


One-shots of Max!

by Gumybear31



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Other, one shots
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-30
Updated: 2018-06-19
Packaged: 2018-12-21 16:28:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 25,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11948136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gumybear31/pseuds/Gumybear31
Summary: This is a fanfiction spot where I will write one-shots based on my favorite camper Max! it's from 3rd person point of view. No Ships! If you want a certain one-shot for Max then tell me in the comment section and maybe it'll get posted, I can not promise that all will be posted!Chapter1: The Real Reason Why Max Doesn't Eat.Chapter 2: Max's home problemChapter 3: Mr.Honey NutChapter 4:Max's vomiting problemChapter 5: Mud SlideChapter 6: Munchausen Syndrome By Proxy(inaccurate fictional medical knowledge)Chapter 7:Hallucitnations, insomnia, and stories oh my!Chapter 8:Cultist of obsessionChapter 9:Mud slide 2Chapter 10: Transgender Max





	1. The real reason why Max doesn't eat

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own Camp camp, it's owned by Rooster teeth.

               Max One-shots

Disclaimer: I do not own Camp Camp, it belongs to Rooster Teeth

One-shot of the chapter:The real reason Max doesn’t eat much   

 

          The day started off with the sky being an annoying shade of dark gray. The camp was unusually quiet, the campers moods seemed to match the sky as they blearily ate their mediocre meshes on their plates that was called “food”. Max blinked wearily and poked at his food with a vicious stab with his dented fork. He placed his head on his hand and watched with a disgusted look as Nikki downed her food at an abnormal speed. A throb at the back of his head quelled any disgust he had, and he scrunched his face in momentary pain.

"Hey Max?” Neil questioned as he watched the shorter boy push his tray towards Nikki in disgust.

"What Neil?” He shot back in annoyance.    

Neil wringed his hands together and nervously shuffled his feet under the table. He placed his fork in eggs, which were chopped into little pieces, stabbed into small bites by a bored Neil. He frowned and looked at Max with suspicion. “

Why do you never eat?”   

Max, who was glaring at Neil with impatience, gripped the table with his fingers and stared at Neil with a frown.

“Because the foods crap, why the hell would I want to eat slop that could kill me faster if I did eat it than if I didn’t eat it? I’m sure that half the shit that creepy “Quartermaster” feeds us is like, 50%  food coloring,40% dirt, and 10% flavoring seasoning. Besides that guy's been here since David was a camper!”

    Neil looked bored, already used to Max’s outburst, but then looked worried when Max stated that the Quatermaster had been alive for that long.

“What?! That can’t be possible! That guys like 60!” Neil cried back, a bit too loudly as a few other campers looked over in confusion.

“Yeah, it is!” Max stated, “He even looks the same as he does now!”   

    Neil looked sick as he looked at his food, he quickly pushed it to Nikki with a quick: “Here Nikki you can have the rest.”    

       Max sighed as Neil stated that he was going back to the tent to try and sleep out the “trauma” of  “most likely eating lead based food”. He scratched at the table and lost himself to his thoughts of scheming  to the sound of Nikki’s chewing. He was quickly brought back out of his short trance when Nikki’s rambunctious voice broke through his thoughts.

“Hey Max?”   

He looked up from the disgusting table top and looked at the green haired girl. “Yeah?”

“I think Neil is right…”    

Max scrunched his nose.

“About the food? Your not gonna vomit or die or anything right?”   

Nikki shook her head.

“No, about you not eating. Ever since I got here, I don’t think I have seen you take one bite of anything. Are you a vampire! That’d be awesome! Hey?! If you are you so have to turn me!”

“No, Nikki, I’m not a vampire! And I have been eating, yesterday I ate the salad that they were serving all day and the sandwich they served at lunch! I just eat later than you guys or earlier, I get up pretty earlier and I stay up late so I have a different eating schedule then others.”

“So,” Nikki stated frowning, “If you do eat, then why did you call this food fake and claimed not to eat it?”

“Ugh!” He banged his head against the table and shifted it to stare crookedly at Nikki with a glare.

“The food is shit! But I need to eat as well, my stomach is a lot smaller than others so I don’t eat as much. I’m a picky eater and I hate having to consume this illiterate and mediocre crap they call food!”

    Nikki nodded, as if she understood and quickly ate the last bit of food on Neil’s tray.

“More for me!”

    Max stood up from the table with a slam of his hands and quickly walked towards the mess hall doors. He was just a few feet from the door when a certain optimistic counselor stepped in front of him with his freakishly long legs.

“Max.”

Max groaned loudly in annoyance, shoved his hands into his hoodie pockets and glared at counselor.

“What, David?!”

    The counselor was posed in what Max assumed was his “No-bullshit” stance, his fists firmly placed on his hips, legs locked to each other, and a frown firmly fixed to his face. Max felt his heart sink towards his stomach a little bit but did not show it, keeping his face in an expression of an angry frown.

“What? I didn’t do anything this time David I swear I was here this whole time! Just asked Nikki!”

    David lifted an eyebrow in confusion before smiled and tilted his head in a understanding motion.

“Oh! No,no,no,no Max! You did nothing wrong...yet, however I’m here because I overheard the conversation that you and Nikki were having, and am questioning whether you are actually eating safely.”

Max scowled and pointed a finger at David in an accusing manner.

“You’re a lying piece of shit David! You didn’t “overhear” us, you were just eavesdropping!”

David’s smile sunk a bit before he chuckled.

“Actually I was just grabbing a drink from the kitchen for Gwen when I passed your table.”

    Max’s scowled dropped into a frown and he started a David a bit before he shifted his gazed to the window.

“I’ve been eating fine David, not that it’s any of your business asshole.”

    He heard, rather than saw, David crouch down in front of him. Max still refused to look at the older man who stayed in his position for what felt like an uncomfortable time.

“Max.”

    The curly haired boy shuffled on his feet, kicking the dirty floor with an uncomfortable stare.

“David.” He bit back.

    A hand was placed on his shoulder, and Max shrugged it off and glared at the man.

“What?” he said angrily.

    David’s green eyes seemed a bit dull in his concern, the camp man swallowed and licked his lips before speaking in a quiet tone so that only Max could hear him.

“Max, are you having eating issues?”

“What?!” Max cried out. “Hell NO! David, what the fuck?!”

    David seemed relieved at his outburst, and then frowned.

“Language!I’m just making sure, because I’m certain that I have barely seen you eat, and I’m just worried about one of my campers.”

    David straightened up and smiled widely.

“Now Max, since I am assured that you are not having any problems with your health, I am sure you will have no problem in eating lunch today, right?”

    Max stared at him in annoyance, eyes flitting to the window and back to David.

“Of course I wouldn’t, but this food tastes like shit and if I don’t like it then I.Won’t.Eat.It!”

    David seemed happy with answer and backed away with no problem, skipping back to the table he shared with Gwen. Max sneered in disgust at the overly happy counselor and shook off the thought that David was really worried about his wellbeing.

‘Shit-head is being paid to watch us, it’s his job to pretend to care.’

He shook his head once more and wandered out the mess hall doors and towards the tents.  He dreaded the thought of the day’s lunch hour, hands in his pockets once more Max sighed again and brushed his way past the flap of his shared tent. Neil looked up from his position on the floor, bits of metal and wiring trung about as well as tools. Max carefully stepped over them and then sat beside Neil.

“I thought you were going back to bed?”

    Neil looked up from modifying another graphing calculator.

“Nah, I got bored staring at the ceiling and decided to make an EMP, I thought we could use it on our next scheme?” Neil said with a shrug.

    Max looked impressed, studying the device when Neil handed it over.

“Damn Neil,” He said, before letting a mischievous grin take over his lips, “Hell’s yeah we’re going to use it on our next scheme!”

    The two went over the plans for the next day, when David was going to do Preston’s activities.

“-Oh definitely!” Max laughed out, “It just has to happen at night! That way they can’t do a play!”

    Neil laughed as well, leaning back against the legs of the bunk bed that sat behind him.

“Yup, I just has to make a few more adjustments to the device and we’ll be in the ‘land of no crappy plays’!”

    Neil went back to wiring the device, the noise between the two slowly went back to a comfortable silence which was broken by the occasional question of handing over a certain type of tool. Max noticed that Neil had placed one of the wires in the wrong place, if the wire wasn’t fixed, then the device wouldn’t work, he was just about to comment that, when a certain redheaded counselor poked his head in unannounced.

“Lunch time kidd- hey…” David said, cheerfully at first but then trailing off in a suspicious fashion, pointing his finger at the device. “What’s that?” He asked in his “no-lying tone”.

“It’s a game-boy.” Max said quickly, shooting Neil a look that Max hoped was his ‘go with it’ look.

“Yeah…” Neil trailed off nervously. “Max said he was, quote unquote “Bored as fuck, Neil make me something non-boring”.”

    David’s look of suspicion was replaced by his normally wide smile and he laughed.

“Ok then kiddos! Well it’s time to put those toys away because it~’s lunch time!”

    Max groaned and pushed himself off the floor with distaste, he made his way to the tent flap as David disappeared and looked back at Neil with a raised eyebrow.

“Are you coming?”

    Neil looked disgusted for a minute before looking back at Max with a nonchalant gaze.

“Nah, I-I think I’m gonna skip this one, your speech from breakfast is still kinda ringing around in my head. I’m going to work on this instead, tell David I just felt really tired or some shit.”

    Max nodded, not letting his feelings of disappointment that Neil wasn’t going to be at lunch show. He reached for the tent flap and called over his shoulder as he left:  
“By the way, the blue wire is supposed to be where the red on is and the red one is supposed to be purple, at the rate you're going you’re making a toy and not an EMP.”

    Neil looked down in shock, he studied the device closely and noticed that Max was right. He stared at the tent flap in wonder, how did he miss that? Wasn’t he supposed to be the computer geek? With a shake of his head he rubbed his eyes and decided that maybe he really did need sleep if he was missing elementary style wiring. He’d talk about just how smart Max was another day, Neil crawled into bed and placed the device under the bed.

    Max shuffled unwillingly in line, waiting for his turn to be served the daily slop. His eyes trailed off across the room where they eventually landed on Nikki who was eating at a normal pace for one. His heart lightened for a bit and then sunk as he noticed David’s horrible attempt to make himself seem normal and wasn’t keeping an eye on Max. Max scowled, of course David would be keeping an eye on him, Max didn’t like it. He heard the Quartermaster mumble something to him and he stepped forward to get his serving. He stared at the food on the tray and grimaced at the dark green peas, mashed potatoes, and a dark brown mystery meat that was covered in more brown gravy. He sniffed and then made his way slowly towards the table that he shared with Nikki. He sat down and picked up his fork, which he used to scoop up the peas and shoved them in his mouth. He grimaced in disgust and in an attempt to distract himself, he asked Nikki what she had done while he and Neil were working on the next scheme, well aware of David’s eyes piercing into the side of his eyes. He shoved another forkful of peas into his mouth and blanched in disgust as Nikki rambled about getting muddy in the rain and how she scuffled with a family of rabbits which were “surprisingly” vicious. When he unwillingly shoved another mouthful into his mouth he noticed that Nikki had gone quiet.

“What?” He questioned, wondering if maybe there was something on his face.

“Nothing!” Nikki said smiling, “You're just… you’re eating! I’ve never seen it!”

    Max looked shocked, and then settled his gaze onto the dark green peas, he shuddered and forked another forkful he raised it with hesitation.

“Max, you look like you don’t want to eat that...If you don’t want to eat it then why are you?”

    Max looked up at Nikki and furrowed his brows.

“I’m trying to assure David that I’m not vomiting into the bathroom toilet like a teenager with body issues.”

    He shoved the fork in his mouth and immediately his face scrunched up as if he was forced to take some nasty tasting medicine. He tried to chew but every time he did a new flavor burst in his mouth, except, this wasn’t a flavor. It was a color, the color dark green, it tasted like someone who licked rusted metal fence that was left in the rain, sharp and metallic. He swallowed and shook his head vigorously to get rid of the sensation. When he came back to himself he found Nikki staring at him with a raised eyebrow.

“What?”

“Why did you make that face, you don’t have to eat the food Max.”

    Max sighed and decided to try the meat instead.

“It’s not the food Nikki…”

    He bit into the nasty brown color and immediately gagged, spitting the meat hurriedly into a napkin, and continually gagged for a few more seconds before he calmed himself down. That color was waaaay worse than dark green, in fact it tasted dull and strong, and hit his taste buds with a texture of someone drinking curdled milk.

“Max?”

    Nikki looked worried, her eyes narrowing in confusion.

“Are you ok? What was that?”

    Max sighed and looked at her with a frown on his face.

“Like I said, it’s not the food...it’s the color, in some foods I can taste the color and not the flavor, and it can be overwhelming at times…”

    He glanced down at the mashed potatoes and sighed.

“It’s something I’ve had since I was born, that’s why I don’t eat much ‘cuz most food tastes like shit and I can’t dull the color down.”

“Damn bro,” Nikki said, “sounds kinda rough… Good thing I don’t have it huh?!”

    Max gave her a dull look and forked his mash potatoes.

“So how does that work exactly? The color tasting? Is it like a super power?!”

“A super powe- no Nikki it isn’t, if it was then it’d be a pretty shitty one.”

    Nikki looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding in agreement.

“Yeah you’re right, it’d be shitty, but you didn’t answer my question.”

“What?”

“What does color taste like? Is it like eating a crayon?”

    Max looked down at the forked was now swirling in his mashed potatoes.

“No, it’s...it’s like describing things… I-I don’t know how to explain it well…But colors like pink have an overwhelming taste of like…having a napkin rubbing against your tongue or-or a rich taste, like an overwhelming flavor that’s so overwhelming that it is just kind of...rich.”

    Nikki pondered over the words.

“So basically, tasting colors is the equivalent of tasting texture?”

    Max frowned.

“Not,really, I don’t know Nikki just leave it…”

    He forked up the mashed potatoes and tentatively ate the small bite. When no overwhelming taste assaulted his senses he smiled a bite and decided that white was his new favorite color, because it was bland and tasteless. He continued to eat his mashed potatoes when the seat next to him dipped. He looked over to see if Neil actually decided to come to lunch, but instead of Neil’s blue eyes, he found himself looking into green eyes.

“Hey Max! I just came over here to ask where Neil is?”

    Max groaned at the sight of the counselor and shoved his not so shitty potatoes into his mouth. He stared at David for a while before mumbling that Neil was tired so he went to bed early.

“Oh! That’s doesn’t seem normal for someone like him, maybe I should check up on him later, he could be sick!”

“No. You shouldn’t David, besides Neil’s not sick, he’s just tired, he didn’t sleep last night, him being a nerd and all.”

    David looked at the grumpy kid for a while before assessing the food on the boy’s tray.

“Max, I’ve noticed that you’ve eaten only some of your peas and a bite of your meatloaf, a growing boy should had all the nutrition of a healthy balanced diet!” David chided.

“Go fuck yourself David.”

“Language! Do you mind telling me why you’re eating only the potatoes and nothing else? I thought you said that you didn’t have an eating problem? Or were you lying?”

    Max’s face burned as he stared down at the table and scraped his fork along the tray.

“I don’t have an eating problem David, I swear I’m not like that.”

“But you’re proving that wrong, aren’t you Max?”

    Max frowned again and stabbed his fork harshly into the meat.

“Maybe I just don’t fucking like the food David, maybe I’d rather starve then eat this shit!”

    David frowned and placed his hands on his hips again.

“Max-”

“Shut, Up David! GOD!” He screamed at the taller man and glared angrily at his food.

“Max! That is no way to talk to your elders!”

“Oh my god! Max why don’t you just tell him shit-for-brains! It’s not a big deal man!” Nikki cried out angrily, tired of watching the two bicker.

“Fuck no Nikki! David will just make matters worse! He always makes a situation like this a big deal to himself!” Max whisper-screamed angrily.

“If you don’t then I will!"

“Don’t you fucking da-”

“David, Max doesn’t like how the colors in his food tastes.”

‘GOD FUCKING DAMMIT NIKKI!” Max yelled hands raised in the air, attracting the rest of the campers attention to the tan boy.

“Max…” David said, his voice light and quiet.

“WHAT?!”

    David sighed.

“Just calm down ok, it’s not that big of a deal, I can talk with the Quartermaster to make you something different if you don’t like the colors ok?” David offered a smile stretching across his face.

    Max stared in disbelief, the rest of the mess hall went back to doing their own things after they realized that the theatrics were gone.

“W-what? How?”

    David’s smile widened.

“Max, Camp Campbell is a place for every child, besides I’ve knew one or two campers before you that suffer from the same thing, no one has to go through that. Just come right up to me and I’ll fix that for you!”

    Max frowned and after a while of thinking he sat down.

“Fine, asshole, you better not tell anyone or I’ll kill you.”

“Ok, Max.”

“I’m fucking serious!”


	2. Max's home problems

Warning: Past child abuse, PTSD, Anxiety attacks/ hallucinations, if you are triggered by this do not read. 

Chapter 2: Max’s home problems        

Max did not want to go anywhere, his chest felt constricted as if someone was reaching inside of him and was giving his lungs a rough tug. The nightmare he had that night had not help with his increasing anxiety. Nevertheless, as he heard David’s voice calling for the campers to get up and head to the mess hall, he got up and nudged awake both Neil and Nikki and pulled on his hoodie. The softness on the inside of his hoodie, comforted him a bit, he grabbed the edges of the baggy hoodie gently and rubbed his fingers against the soft fabric. He looked back at Nikki and Neil and patiently waited for them to get ready to go to the mess hall.

“What do you think David has planned for today? Oh! I hope it’s something adventure-y! Whadda think Max?” Nikki asked excitedly, her green curls bouncing off her shoulder as she bounded towards the tents opening, Max following shortly after she opened the flap.

“I don’t know and I don’t give a shit Nikki.”    

Neil trudged slowly after them, a look of annoyance about having been woken up earlier than usual. He squinted at the sky for a moment before uttering in what seemed like disbelief and annoyance.

“Are you _fucking kidding me_?! It’s gotta be like 6 something, this shits too early for me to be waking up as a kid, I need my 8 hours of sleep dammit!”    

Neil threw his hands up and gestured to the semi-dark sky angrily, looking at Max and Nikki with eyes wide with disbelief.

“What the _fuck_ does he _possibly_ need us to wake up this early for?!”    

Max sighed, his throat constricting again at the anger in his friend’s voice.

“The fuck if I know Neil, it’s David, nobody knows why he does anything.”

“Maybe he’s killed someone and needs us to help him hide the bodies!” Nikki exclaimed excitedly.

“I doubt it,” Max shot back, moving once more in the direction of the mess hall. “Besides it’s _David_.”    

Neil sighed, clearly still mad about being woken up and rubbed at his eyes harshly.

“Fucking _camp_!”    

The trio pushed their way into the mess hall where David was standing, smiling, next to a grumpy Gwen, who, like everyone else, was not to happy to be woken up this early.

“Good~ Morning campers!”

“Fuck you.”

“Morning David.”

“Jesus Christ!”

“Language!” David chided to Max.    

Max scowled in response, making his way to where the Quartermaster was serving breakfast. The trio grabbed their trays and sat down at their table, the female counterpart of the three actually eating the meal. Max just grabbed the orange juice on his tray and took a big gulp, eyeing the food on the tray with distaste. The pancakes looked as if it were stuffed with the insides of a couch cushion, the bacon looked like curled up and burnt pencils and the toast look as if it was placed in the interior part of a grill, burned and stale to a crisp. He looked at Nikki. “

Hey Nikki? I’ll trade you my food for your orange juice.”    

Nikki paused in her eating and took one look at his plate and yelled: “Deal!”    

She quickly grabbed the tray and slid it closer to her and tossed her orange juice to Max who caught it and stuffed it into his hoodie pocket. His eyes slid across the mess hall, as he felt a tingling sensation, as if someone was watching him.

**_“Mistake.”_ **

A deep voice penetrated his thoughts with sharp surprise, he gripped the orange juice. The voice tickled at the back of his head, making him wary of everything around him, setting his paranoia to run through him. Taking a deep breath when he realized that no one was watching him and that his brain was just messing with him again, he slumped a bit in his seat, occasionally taking a sip from his orange juice.  Max started up a lame conversation to distract himself, the trio talked quietly at the table, questioning the activity that they were doomed to do that day until breakfast was ready and David began ushering the kids outside to the flag pole. “Alrighty campers! You won’t believe the fun that I have planned for today!”    

Max rolled his eyes: ‘Bet ya five dollars I can.’ He thought rudely, eyes trained on the nature loving man.    

David bounced on his feet and smiled widely, he placed his fists on his hips

“Now! Which one of you want to guess what we’re doing today!”

“Laying in the dirt as we die of boredom?” Max growled out. “Close but not quite Max!” He said happily.

“Today we are going…” He trailed off dramatically as he pulled out a rucksack and showed it to the tired campers.

“Hiking!” He finished happily.

    The camper groaned unhappily, except Nikki who cheered, she grabbed Max’s and Neil’s shoulders and gave them a hard shake.

“Adventure!”

David lit up as he saw at least one camper was excited to go hiking. “Right you are Nikki! Today will be adventurous as we go about on one of the many hiking trails here in Sleepy Peak!”    

David shouldered on his rucksack and gestured towards the line of backpacks that were leaning against the walls of the mess hall and began to give everyone a lecture on how to behave and what to do if they got separated. Gwen was already holding up one and was waiting for David to finish up with his instructions.

“If one of us gets separated from the group, stay where you are and blow the whistle that is located in the side pocket of your hiking packs! Remember that the nature around us is to be respected and should be treated as such. Gwen will help you guys pack up and when we are all done we will regroup at the camp entrance, I will go and get the lunches and water we will need for our long walk!”

David bounced into the mess hall once more and the campers slowly made their way to Gwen.

“Come on you little shits, let’s get you all ready for this stupid activity.”    

She strapped Space Kid into his backpack, making sure that it was tight enough to stay on but loose enough to not hurt him.

“Try not to break the straps and do not put bugs into your space suit most of them carry diseases and I don’t want to fill out a form for a dead camper.”    

Space Kid just gave her a thumbs up and a loud “Okay!” before bounding off a bit away from the rest of the group. Gwen sighed, annoyed as she strapped in the rest of the rowdy campers, not reacting when Preston dramatic stated that the adventure will be best for everyone to experience all the character’s that nature played. She yelled at Nurf when she spotted him trying to sneak a knife into his pack and sighed when Harrison turned his trail mix into a box of chocolate. The last camper she had to help with the pack, was Max.

“Ok shit stain, let’s get you into your pack and I will tell you not to be a fucker today but that would be a waste of my time, wouldn’t it?”

Max stared boredly at her and placed his extra orange juice into the backpack.

“It would.”

She roughly set the straps and stood up, cracking her back.

“Ok campers! Let’s get a move on to the trails of Camp Campbell as the sun is beginning to rise!”

The campers followed behind the counselors in clumps, some by themselves as they took in the “lame” views of nature, others in forms of groups as they chatted to each other about anything and everything. Occasionally the group was disrupted by David who was spouting a random piece of history over an old stump or pond that they would pass. Max had begun to shrink into his hoodie more and more as time passed, the odd sensation of his throat closing in his unknown panic became more and more powerful as the sun rose higher in the sky. The feeling of being watched increased as his feet treaded lightly over the dirt on the trail. His heart pounded in his chest with painful strikes, his eyes darted across the fields and trees around him in paranoia.

“Max?”    

His eyes snapped towards Nikki.

“Y-yeah,” He cleared his throat, “What?”    

Nikki frowned.

“Are you ok? You’re kinda sweating a lot and you look pale.”    

Max wiped his forehead with the sleeve of his hoodie and squinted at Nikki through the now harsh light of day. “Yeah, just a little hot is all.”    

Nikki stared at him for a little while before she noticed a badger on the trail in front of them and sprinted after it, not paying attention to the protests that David made as he took of after her. Max sighed in short relief as Nikki finally stopped questioning him and began to once more give into his paranoia and anxiety. He tried to find a reason on why he was so on edge, but when he thought over the day, he couldn’t figure out what was bothering him. He tried to ignore the urge to look around him and trained his eyes on David who was once again leading the group  after successfully luring Nikki away from the dangerous animal. Max looked for his green haired companion and found her talking to Neil as they walked side by side. From where he was he couldn’t hear what they were saying, his hands came up to grab the straps of his pack, his ears catching the sound of nature’s lullaby. He noticed that he was lagging a bit behind the large group when he heard a deep voice come from behind him.

_**“Max.”** _

He stopped fully in his tracks and whipped his head back to the trail behind him, the emptiness of the woods made him shudder as he turned his head back around and was about to go and catch up with the group when he heard the voice again.

**_“Where the fuck do you think you’re going you piece of shit?”_ **

He gasped and whipped around fully this time to scan the area around him, that voice, he recognized it. It was his father’s. But he was hearing it in his head, he was getting worked up for nothing. He spotted a shadow to his right, in his peripheral vision, a large and bulky shadow, his father’s, it was reaching for him. He shook in fright and without much thought, took off in a dead run towards the group of campers that were getting smaller and smaller ahead of him.

**_“No one ever wants to put up with a piece of worthless shit like you.”_ **

**_“I should have killed you when I had the chance.”_ **

**_“Your only useful for screaming at since you fuck up everything you touch.”_ **

Max sped up as his father’s voice grew louder in his head, he couldn’t understand where this was coming from, episodes like this didn’t usually show up without a reason. The world was blurry as he ran, his eyes welling up with tears as his chest heaved with panicked and labored breathes as he ran. He didn’t even realize that he had caught up to the group, scaring the campers and the counselors as he continued to heave and run in a blind panic. A hand grabbed his wrist tightly as he ran, the contact made him scream loudly. He reached back with his free hand scratched desperately at the hand holding him back.

“FUCK YOU, YOU MOTHER FUCKER LET ME GO!”    

The owner of the hand gasped in pain and tugged Max back with strength. “Max! Calm down! What’s wrong?!” David shouted, wrapping his arms around the struggling boy.    

Max cried out as he felt the long gangly arms wrap around his waist and hoist him into the air and then deposited him into the lap of the freakishly long legs of the camp man.

“NO!”    

He pushed at David’s face with his hands, his ears still ringing with the sounds of his father’s voice still shouting in his head. He gasped and heaved, kicking his legs and pushing and flailing his arms with all of his strength. David grabbed Max’s hands and gently held them tightly within his own, he wrapped his legs across Max’s legs to keep them from hurting the smaller boy. Max arched his back and let out one final, hoarse scream before limply falling back against David’s chest, finally had tired himself out. Max occasionally squirmed, gasping like a dead fish and pressing the back of his head against David’s chest.

“David?”

The red-headed counselor’s head shot up to look at the green haired girl and brown haired boy who was crying beside him. David was shocked to see the campers frightened and scared, some crying and other’s keeping their distance. Nevertheless, he adjusted Max into a more comfortable position.

“Yes Nikki?” “I-is Max gonna be alright?”    

David looked down to the boy who laid limply in his arms, eyes staring dead ahead with a dull look. He looked down at Max’s chest and was relieved to see that it was still pushing itself up and down. He looked back up to Nikki and Neil and back down to Max without answering. “He’ll be fine.” Gwen lied to Nikki as she pulled the little    

Max groaned in his arms and he blinked his eyes, and tried to wipe the wetness from them when he noticed that his hands were being held by another’s. David and the campers watched as Max’s eyes slowly traveled up the arm and up to David’s face.

“Let.Me.Go.”    

David’s eyebrows tented upwards in confusion, he let Max’s hands go and released the hold he had on Max’s legs, but kept the boy sitting down in his lap. David looked up at Gwen and smiled softly.

“The resting area is a few paces ahead, do you mind if you take the rest of the campers to have lunch while I talk to Max for a bit?”    

Gwen nodded mutely and gathered the campers, herding them away and picking up Nikki when she wouldn’t budge.

“Max needs us!” Nikki cried out, trying to escape Gwen’s hold after Gwen had walked a few feet away from the duo.

“Max needs sometime alone to deal with this I don’t believe he’d be comfortable having his friends around to witness this Nikki.”    

Nikki slumped in her hold and sniffled.

“We just wanna make sure he’s fine.” Neil said softly.    

Gwen smiled softly and placed Nikki down next to Neil.

“I know, but sometimes, it’s easier for others to talk about their problems with someone who understands.”    

Nikki scrunched up her face, voice thick with tears.

“How would David understand?”    

Gwen patted her hair. “That’s David’s story to tell, now help me with the other little shits.”

\-------------------------    

Max fixed his stare to the ground, refusing to make eye contact with David when the older man asked.

“Max.”

“What?” The small boy gritted out thickly, his voice wavering in his grief.

“Do you want to talk about it?”    

Max finally shifted his gaze to the green eyes and huffed.

“Does it fucking look like I want to fucking talk about it you fucking dick?”    

When David didn’t reprimand him on his excessive cursing, he raised an eyebrow. He took in David’s defeated posture, the deep sadness in his eyes, his whole body screamed that the older one of them was weary.

“What camp man? Did I finally break you or something?”    

David’s lips tilted into a small smile.

“No Max, you could never break me.”    

Max frowned.

“Then what the hell’s with the kicked puppy look asshat?”    

David looked Max dead in his eyes and wrapped his hands around the boy’s smaller ones.

“Max… is someone at home...hurting you?”    

Max froze, his eyes widened in panic, and he tried to fix his mask of indifference back on, but David had already seen through it.

“No! No one's doing that David, I’m not some pity child!” Max angrily shouted, ripping his hands away from David’s own and tried to stand.

“Admitting that you are being abused doesn’t make you weak Max…”    

Max glared at David from the position he kneeled at.

“Go fuck yourself! How dare you accuse me of going through something you know _nothing_ about!"

“By thinking that you’d think that I’m weak, because I know _everything_ about it.”    

Max froze and looked at David with eyes wide with disbelief.

“What?”

“You heard me,” David placed his hands in his lap. “Max I admit that I used to be abused, just like you are being.”

“I am not being abuse-”

“Yes you are, I know the signs because I suffer from them too. The depression, the hard days where your anxiety is spinning out of control, when you just can’t seem to ground yourself back to reality with just yourself…”    

Max’s eyes welled up with tears and stared at the ground gripping the dirt with his nails.

“How…?”    

David sniffled and smiled faintly.

“As I said, I go through the same thing, Max, it’s not something that goes away easily. And I know that it is hard right now for you to grasp that but, eventually it’ll ease up. There will be bad days, and there will be good days, looking on the dark side of things almost never works out in favor of the person who is experiencing this. There are days where I can barely get out of bed, but I do anyway because if not for you guys, then for myself. My dad was a drunk, he used to come home and constantly beat me and tell me that I was nothing but a burden to his life. I was a bit like you in fact, I hated everything and everyone, adults became my enemy and my peers became nothing by sheep in a slaughterhouse.”    

Max sobbed, curling into himself eyes trained on David who watched with pained eyes.

“Why? Why does this happen? I’m not even home! I shouldn’t be feeling like this I’m safe right? So why do I feel like he’s still there around every _fucking_ turn? Why does it hurt so _fucking much_?”  

He stared at the scratch marks on David's hands.

" _I'm sorry."_

David reached forward and pulled him into his lap once more. Max latched his hands to David’s shirt, burying his face into David’s chest. The nature man rocked the both of them as they both cried.

“Because that’s what he made you believe, they beat the fear into you so that you’d stay, cower and submit to them, but by admitting that we are being subjected to this torture, people can help you.

They can protect you and help you grow.”    

The summer sun was high in the sky and David pulled Max back so he can talk to the boy face to face.

“Max, will you let me help you?”    

Max looked scared, for once he looked like a normal ten year old, hands still clenching David’s shirt.

“What’s going to happen?”

“I don’t know Max, but I know that you are going to stay with me through thick and thin, I will fight for you, tooth and nail if you’d let me.”

“But I’ve been a jerk to you all summer...Doesn’t that mean anything?” “

No. It doesn’t, it was just you defending yourself from what you were afraid of and sometimes, like this time, it’s ok to feel scared and it’s ok for you to act out. But no matter what you do Max, what you or any other camper does, I will never hate you or them.”    

A breathe was taken from the smaller one.

“Now, will you let me help you?”    

Max let out a sob.

“Help me David… Please.”    

David smiled.

“Always kiddo.”


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Mr.Honey Nuts

Author’s note: I was hanging with my friend today when I got the idea of Mr.Honey Nuts being a large Alaskan Malamute (dog) and is very protective of Max.    

When the first camper had gotten to the camp, David was expecting the small tan boy with dark bouncing curls and a set frown on his face. What he wasn’t expecting, was the large dog that leaped from the backseat of the large sleek black car, the nice shiny fur coat of brown and gold glinting in the sun a large pair of teal eyes which matched the small boys stared at the camp counselor, as if it was assessing him. Judging him. David was really surprised at how large the dog was, and tall too, it stood up a little bit past David’s waist, which was something since David was about 6’4 and the boy couldn’t have been higher than 2’5. The large dog turned it’s head away from the counselor when the boy decided to turn and grab something from the back of the car. The boy, “Max”, if David could recall from the...lovely conversation he had with the boy’s mother, who he could tell could care less about the boy, grabbed his blue backpack from the car. The car’s tires squealed and the engine revved violently as it lurched forward as the boy barely had time to loosely clutch the straps of his backpack as it sped forward. Before David could scream in fright, the dog quickly grabbed the boy by the hood of his blue layered hoodie and tugged him backwards, holding the boy like it would a pup, the car’s tires ran over the spot where the boy’s feet would have been if the dog hadn’t pulled him away in time. The car quickly sped away from the mismatched duo and the thoroughly scared camp counselor. David quickly shook his head to get rid of the shock and ran towards the large dog and boy.

“Holy gosh! Are you alright there?!”    

The dog lowered the boy carefully to the ground and sniffed at the back of the boy’s head. Max brushed the dirt on his hoodie from the dirt cloud the car had left behind and picked up his backpack. He looked up with a guarded look, the dog seemed to echo the look, returning it’s gaze to David who flushed in embarrassment.

“I’m fine camp man.”

“Are you sure becaus-”

“I said I’m fine dammit!” Max growled out angrily.    

David gulped and looked down at the duo.

“Well if you’re sure… Welcome to Camp Campbell!”

\--------------------

That was three years ago. Now today, was the first day of Camp Campbell and David was waiting at the entrance for Max once again, pondering the first time they met. A smile tugged on his lips as he saw a familiar black car drive up the dirt road, this was  the year David was going to ask Max. He was sure that both and Mr.Honey Nuts would like the outcome since the three of them have gotten close throughout the past three years. Max still cursed, tried to escape and acted out as well as Mr.Honey Nuts, but he wouldn’t change a thing about them, he knew that deep down, Max viewed him as a father figure, and this year David was ready to make it official, but at the end of the summer, he’d tell Max, it’d be a surprise. The car stopped and out hopped Max, still as short as ever, and Mr.Honey Nuts, who was still towering over the kid, the kid’s backpack was tossed out after him and the car took off once more down the road.

‘Somethings never change…”

“Max! Mr.Honey Nuts! Welcome back Kiddo!”

“Screw you.”    

David’s smile grew wider as he ushered them into the mess hall, excited to show Max and Mr.Honey Nuts to the new co-counselor, Gwen. Max looked up at David with a confused look as Mr.Honey Nuts huffed softly in annoyance, David was happier than usual as he stood in front of the mess hall doors, one hand gripping the handle.

“Max! Mr.Honey Nuts! I want to you meet your new co-counselor-” He threw open the doors to the mess hall, to reveal a woman in her late twenties sitting at the table.

“Gwen!”    

Max and Mr.Honey Nuts looked in amusement as the woman screamed at the sight of the large dog.

“DAVID WHAT THE HELL!”  

Gwen, the new co-counselor, was standing on a table one leg raised in a defensive mode, looked down at the small boy and large dog. When she realized that the dog wasn’t going to charge a her she slowly climbed off the table and angrily jabbed a finger at Max.

“Hey kid! No dogs allowed, take ‘em back to your parents or something.”    

Mr.Honey Nuts growled softly and Max smirked.

“Gwen, is it?” He said snidely, “Mr.Honey Nuts here is a camper as well since your camp has a brochure for pet training, right?”    

Gwen gaped at the kid, looking at David who laughed nervously and scratched at the back of his head.

“Gwen, Max and Mr.Honey Nuts have been campers here for three years, there’s no reason to get worried, besides, Mr.Honey Nuts won’t attack you without a reason.”    

That, did not calm her down, in fact it made everything worse. Max cleared his throat and looked at Gwen dead in the eyes, his smirk falling in replace of an ice cold stare.

“I know this camps a scam, I’m not a fucking idiot so don’t treat me like one.” He turned to walk towards the tents, Mr.Honey Nuts at his heels. He stopped and turned to Gwen with a mischievous look.

“Your new right?”    

Gwen nodded. Max barked out a laugh.

“Good luck with these fucking idiots.”

“Max!” David chided, a frown on his face. “Language!” His frown turned into a smile.

“Besides, this year we are getting new campers!”   

Max groaned and began to hurriedly walk away.

“Poor, poor mother fuckers.”    

David looked at Max with a fond smile. “Try to make some new friends this time Max! I’m sure there will be someone you’d like!”    

Max sighed and stopped again.

“I _really_ doubt that David.”

“Ok, Max!” David responded cheerfully.    

Gwen looked at the scene, a headache beginning to form in her head. This was going to be a long summer.

\------------------------  

Eventually the time for the other campers arrived, one by one they showed up for the camp, only to be met with semi-disappointment that the camp was more than what they planned on. Due to that, David’s smile was less bright than it normally would due to the complaints of the new campers. They had a total number of 8 campers, another two would be coming that day and David was once again excited. He, Mr.Honey Nuts and Max stood at the entrance of the camp side by side, waiting for the bus.

“We are getting two new campers this year! Aren’t you just excited Max?!”

“Nope.”    

David smiled then quirked an eyebrow. “Wait...What are you two even doing out here and not in the mess hall?”    

Max simply stared at him and glared. “No reason,” He said with a hint of a smile in his voice as if he was hiding something. “Mess hall was too loud and I didn’t want Mr. Honey Nuts to get trampled by those illiterates in there.”    

David looked suspiciously at Max, not because of his tone, but because he was pretty sure that Mr.Honey Nuts couldn’t get trampled over because he towered over the kids. He was taken from his thoughts however, when the sound of a horn buzzed through the air.

“The campers!”    

Max groaned.

\---------------------------

“That’s it Max! You and Mr.Honey Nuts are staying by my side the rest of the day for that stunt you two pulled!”    

Neil and Nikki watched as David reprimanded, not only a kid but a large dog as well. Neil couldn’t imagine why such a scary dog like that would be called ‘Mr.Honey Nuts’, it had to be some sort of trick, right? To call a dog something that they most decidedly not were. The boy, “Max” as he and Nikki heard David call, looked strange. He looked way too mature for his age, eyes set with a cold look that would soften as he looked at the large dog, shoulders raised in defiance and arms crossed in a way that meant he was done with everyone's bullshit. Finally, someone who saw the world just like Neil saw it, he thinks maybe they could get along.

“So what’s your deal?” He asked Max as David began leading them to the mess hall.    

Max sighed and stared at him right in the eyes. “I’m just a kid with his dog trying to survive out here man.”    

Neil quirked a smile. Yup they could definitely get along. He looked at Nikki, whom he had bonded with on the bus, maybe they could become friends, Max seemed to already take a liking to her attitude as well as Mr.Honey Nuts.

It was a start to a beautiful friendship, and terrible Chaos for others.

\-------------Half Way Through the Summer---------------

The morning was cold and the birds were singing bloody murder to Max’s ears. He grunted and wiped his eyes a dry tongue licking his face, sitting up against the large mass of fur that was curled around him Max stretched wearily. He looked between some of the small holes in the tent flap and judged that it was way too early for the campers to be getting up. Not for Max and Mr.Honey Nuts though. He climb ed over Mr.Honey Nuts’ back to reach for his blue hoodie sleepily, the large mass of fur stood up, draping Max across it’s back electing a small sleepy laugh from the boy, hoodie grasped in the boy’s hands.

“Maaax…” Nikki said, voice drenched with tiredness, hands grasping at the air. “Bring ‘em baacccck.”    

Max sat up straight on Mr.Honey Nuts’ back, legs dangling on either side of it’s large body, he struggled for a moment with his hoodie before slumping forward onto Mr.Honey Nuts’ head.

“No can do, besides he woke me up.”    

Nikki whined before sitting up and nudging Neil.

“Come on nerd, don’t you wanna get the breakfast David makes before we get suck with Quartermaster's food?” She asked smiling widely as Neil bolted upright and claimed he was ready.    

Waking up early had became a tradition for the five, at first is was only Mr. Honey Nuts, Max, and David, who would cook the three breakfast since the Quartermaster was never awake when they were. Then Nikki joined them and later Neil, all four of them were grateful for David’s knowledge on how to cook, the breakfast was always something to look forward to. They made their way to the mess hall, Max sleepily talking to both Nikki and Neil, an occasional talking to Mr.Honey nuts. Neil could tell, just by looking into the eyes of the Alaskan Malamute, that the dog was highly intelligent. Throughout the summer, Neil was proven right, the dog seemed to be Max’s guardian, not eating until Max had taken a bite of his breakfast, carrying the ten year old when he was sleepy, injured or when in danger, it growled at the wood scouts when they had tried to come close to him, knocked Billy (Snake) into the water, but not after viciously biting him after he tried to stab Max. The dog seemed hellbent on protecting Max, and Neil couldn’t figure out why, maybe the two just had a close bond. The trio plus large freakin dog, entered the mess hall where David greeted them and let them help with breakfast. The five began to eat talking about nothing in particular, or trying to see the camp activity they had for today. But like every other morning, David did not tell, only saying:

“I just know you guys are gonna love it!”    

Max snorted and popped a piece of bacon into his mouth, he really only seemed to eat much when David cooked.

“Yeah, I’m sure we will David.” He said sarcastically.

“Oh, well don’t I know it!” David said cheerfully, clearly missing the sarcasm as he often did.

“OH! I hope it’s something crazy! Like having a scavenger hunt in the rain and mud!” Nikki said around her mouth full of eggs.    

Neil grimaced at her and took a sip of his orange juice.

“Oh dear lord… Hopefully not…” He said anxiously.

“That’s a great idea Nikki!” David remarked. “But sadly, no, maybe another day then huh?”    

Nikki screamed yes while Neil commented about how loud she was being and that it was too early. Soon, the camper, plus Gwen and the Quartermaster, woke up and made their way into the mess hall, looking disheveled and worn in their usual attire. Soon, much too soon for Max’s tastes, the campers were back to screaming at each other and attempting to do things on their own. Neil and Nikki had gone back to the tent to escape the noise,but Max had snuck away from the mess of people and children with Mr.Honey Nuts at his heels. They had hurriedly walked towards the dock, Max grinned with a smug look in his eyes as the duo eyed the canoes.

“Wanna go for a swim Mr.Honey Nuts?”    

The dog barked in agreement, the sun’s hot rays beaming on them from above. Max carefully grabbed an oar and jumped into the canoe, he steadied the canoe for Mr.Honey Nuts to come aboard, then loosened the rope and began rowing towards the middle of the lake. He lowered the anchor when they got deep enough and stripped off his hoodie.

“Ok Mr.Honey Nuts, ship: S.S Fuck The Police is a go!”    

Max heard a shout from the shore and turned to look. David was yelling at Max and Mr.Honey Nuts to get back to shore.

“YOU TWO GET BACK HERE THIS INSTANT! WE ONLY HAVE ONE CANOE AND YOUR USING IT! YOU TWO ARE IN BIG TROUBLE, MR.HONEY NUTS YOU KNOW BETTER THAN THIS!”    

The two ignored the camp man and proceeded to jump into the lake. Whatever punishment they got it was worth it.

“I’M _REALLY_ UPSET BUT REALLY PROUD BECAUSE YOU WERE CLEARLY _PAYING_ ATTENTION IN ROWING AND SWIM CLASS!”


	4. Max's vomiting problems

Chapeter 4: Max’s vomiting problem (Request)        

The day was absolutely horrifying. Max had thought, that if he had gone to sleep, then maybe he’d stop vomiting random objects, that maybe, just maybe, he’d be cured from that stupid magic trick that Harrison had placed upon him. But as he awoke to a crazed Neil, who seemed to only be focused on himself, and had coughed up a playing card, he knew that it wasn’t over. He tried to struggle through the day, eyes weary, throat sore from having forced too many sharp and large objects out of his throat and from his stomach. Eventually Neil had given up on trying to pursue Harrison, Nikki was tuckered out from her trick that she had played, and Max, Max was exhausted. More than he had ever been in his life, he skipped dinner, claiming that he wasn’t hungry to Nikki when she asked. He made his way slowly towards their shared tent, stopping as he felt something foreign make it’s way up his throat without his permission. He gagged and fell to his knees, hands gripping the grass with fear as he opened his mouth and spewed a golf ball, he gagged again and threw up a tennis ball. He rose to his feet in fear and hurried to the tent, throwing open the flap and shoving under the covers with a sob. He clutched his sore throat in agony, body curling in on itself as a large tremor shook him to the core, he kicked off his shoes and burrowed inside the hoodie as far as it allowed and willed himself to sleep. As his eyes finally closed he wondered where Gwen and David were, if they were there, none of this would have happened and Max wouldn’t have been stuck with this shit. He rid his mind of the thoughts and let a little bit of himself hope that it’d be gone when he woke.    

The next day Max was awoken to the sound of himself gagging, the noise filling the tent and waking up Neil and Nikki. Max hurriedly threw off the blankets and leaned over the side of the bed, his heaves strong and violent.

“Max?” Neil’s sleepy voice called out from the bed across the tent, he turned the flashlight lantern on. “Are you ok?”

‘No fucking way idiot!’ Max would have said if he wasn’t too busy trying to expel whatever was making him gag. Something large, larger than the tennis ball lodged itself in his mouth, Max struggled to breathe around it, reaching up with his hands to grab and pull the mysterious object from his mouth. The first thing he registered was the fact that the object was green and that Nikki was laughing. Max struggled to breathe, staring in anger at the toy frog that had just been lodged in his throat. He glared breathlessly at Nikki who laughed harder.

“Max!” She laughed. “I guess you had a frog in your throat!”    

Max stood up, clutching the frog with distaste and in disgust that his hands were covered in his own saliva. He passed Nikki who tried to make another pun, he quickly shut her down with a raspy and sore:

“Fuck, you.”    

Her mirth was quickly replaced with concerned look.

“Are you ok?”    

Max glared and chose not to respond, walking towards the bathroom in the early hours in the morning. He could tell that it was really early, since it was still dark and everything was quiet. As he reached the bathroom door he tossed the frog into the trash and rapidly went to wash his hands. Soon, after leaving his sudden hands under the spray of scalding hot water, he decided to sit in the shower. He went towards the shower stalls and turned the hot water on breathing in the soothing gust of warm water fog. He stripped and went into the stall, locking it behind him and sitting down under the spray, facing the door, he wrapped his arms around his knees and hugged himself. He laid his head on his knees and stared at the dull metal stall door, wishing that the vomiting spell would be over already. His throat burned and ached in sharp pulses, he gripped at his collarbone as his throat began to close up in fear. He rasped in pain and hunched in on himself as the pain in his stomach made itself prominent.

“Fuck…” He whispered, his vocal cords shrieking in pain the muscles in his throat spasming.    

Max decided that he wouldn’t talk, he wouldn’t participate in that day’s activities like he usually would with an air of annoyance. Today, maybe just for today he’d sit this one out, he couldn’t take the pretending anymore, he just wanted it to stop. By the time he felt just a bit better and had gotten dried and dressed, the sun was in the sky. Making his way to the mess hall where he found the rest of the campers eating breakfast and grabbed himself a bottle of orange juice. He sat beside Nikki and Neil who were eating breakfast and hadn’t seem to notice him just yet, he opened the cap and took a few gulps before rasping out in pain as it stung it’s way down his throat. His rasp caught the attention of his two companions who looked at him with worry.

“Still vomiting out objects?” Neil asked.    

Max nodded, gripping the orange juice tightly in both hands and staring at the table. “Look, Max…” Neil started quietly, stabbing at his eggs with his fork for a moment before looking at Max.

“I’m sorry. About yesterday, I was acting like a dick and I completely ignored you when you need me the most… So I’m sorry.”    

Max looked at Neil in surprise, before smiling softly. Neil sighed in relief as he saw that he was forgiven. He frowned however when he noticed that Max hadn’t grabbed any food.

“You’re not gonna eat?”    

Max shook his head, he looked at Neil and lifted his orange juice before he gestured to his throat with his left hand. Neil raised his eyebrows in understandment and nodded.

“Your throat hurts?”    

Max nodded again before taking another sip of the orange juice, to which he winced and coughed loudly and harshly a few flecks of blood dotting the table in the fit. Neil winced and rubbed Max’s back gently, at first Max seemed startled by the fact the Neil decided to comfort him, but then leaned into the touch a bit, his coughing becoming more softer after a second. They diminished almost as soon as the attack had appeared and Nikki was leaning over to look at Max.

“Do you want me to get David or Gwen?”    

Max rapidly shook his head ‘No’ at the question and rubbed absentmindedly at his throat. He got up and threw the orange juice away before settling back down at the table with a quiet sigh, tears gathering a bit in the corner of his eyes as he hid his face in his folded arms on the table.

“If you say so Max, but if it gets too much me and Nikki are going to get David, no matter how much you hate him, got it?”    

Max responded with a thumbs up.

\---------------------------------------------------    

When David had woken up from the armchair when he had fallen asleep on accident the night before with Gwen he immediately remembered what exactly he was supposed to be doing.

‘Oh no! The kids!’   

He jumped up and screamed, waking up a sleeping Gwen who was sleeping in the chair besides him.

“DAVID?! WHAT’S WRONG?!”

She screamed raising her fists as she stood, looking around for a source of danger.

“GWEN! THE CAMPERS! WE COMPLETELY FORGOT THEM! THEY’VE PROBABLY KILLED EACH OTHER BY NOW!” David screamed at the co-counselor in horror.    

Gwen’s eyes widened and both quickly ran towards the door and wrenched it open, they looked around the camp. Both were relieved and scared when they noticed that the camp wasn’t destroyed. They both quickly rushed to the mess hall to see where the campers were, when they found all ten campers in the mess hall they sighed in relief and tried to act normal. David smiled forcefully and said to the campers:

“Good~ Morning campers~!”    

The campers looked up in mixed emotions of annoyance, and relief.

“Where the hell were you two yesterday?” Nikki asked.    

David flushed and stuttered as he couldn’t come up with a proper excuse, luckily Gwen stepped in.

“I had my woman sickness yesterday and David helped me. We’re sorry that we left you guys to yourselves.”    

Gwen looked at Max’s slumped form with a frown, Max is grumpy and reclusive, but he wasn’t that reclusive.

“What’s with shit stain?”    

Nikki glared at her with squinted eyes.

“He’s just tired is all.”

“Yeah,” Neil jumped in. “He didn’t sleep too well last night.”

“Aw! I’m so sorry to hear that buddy!” David said cheerfully. “But no worries! I have a nice camp activity that we can do that should cheer Max right up!”    

Max lifted his head to look at David with a glare and lifted up his hand, flipping him with his middle finger.

“Now Max, that’s not nice.”    

David ruffed Max’s hair, ready for a side remark from the small ten year old, but when none came, he frowned.

“What’s wrong Max?”    

Max just scowled and hid his face again in his arms, ignoring David. David narrowed his eyes in concern but backed away, knowing that Max would tell him when he was ready. He eyed the other two campers and walked towards the kitchen, going to make him and Gwen something for breakfast before getting the day started. He couldn’t help the thought that something had went wrong yesterday when they didn’t supervise. But for now he ignored it in favor of preparing breakfast and today’s activity. After he and Gwen ate they gathered the campers in front of the mess hall to inform them of the day’s activity.

“Okay campers! Today me and Gwen have prepared a special activity to make up for yesterday!”   

The campers groaned.

“Today’s activity is…” He trailed off in his normal show of dramatics. “Scavenger hunt!”    

The campers groaned again, but this time in regret of getting up that morning.

“Gather in twos and come to me and Gwen for the lists!”    

The campers gathered in pairs until it was just Max left, who refused to budge from the spot where he had been standing, scowling in defiance at David.

“Alrighty campers! Here’s your lists, Gwen will be paired with Space kid and Nurf, and I with Max! If you are lost, look for trees with the yellow marks and follow them back to the camp, you have till 5 o’clock to collect the items on the list, the first ones to bring back all of the items will get a month's supply of s'mores! Now get to movin’ kiddos!” David said walking to stand beside Max.    

The campers went off grumbling and seething in annoyance which slowly turned to excitement as they began betting on who was going to win.

“Ok, Max! Are you ready?!”    

Max shook his head and glared down at the ground. David smiled and grabbed his hand and began to move in the direction of the forest when a tugging stopped him short. Max was holding his ground, a set scowl on his face as he stomped one foot into the ground to express his anger.

“Oh no Max! You are not gonna be grumpy today, you are coming with me and you are going to have fun, ok?!” He said happily and sternly.    

Max glared but it was in vain as David began to pull him back to the forest, without any more strength left in his body to fight him, he reluctantly walked with David, hand in hand. He tried to pull his hand out of David’s as the older man rambled about where to find blueberries and where to find sticks from an oak tree, but to his surprise, David had a strong but gentle grip, so he just let him lead the way staying silent the entire time.

“-I know this place pretty well because I practically grew up here...Does that make it cheating? Oh, I would give the prize away to the campers anyway since they are always doing what me and Gwen ask them to do, even though it’s not always in the right order. But I am so proud of them anyway as if they are my own children, I’m proud of you too Max, for coming out here with me today.”     

Max rolled his eye at the older man’s antics. His throat throbbed in the summer heat and his stomach began to roll as David happily and quite fastly moved through the forest. His feet stumbled over each other and tree roots as he fought to keep up with the man.

“-isn’t this place lovely Max? I figured you’d like it but I hadn’t have the time to take you here but I guess now’s a good time than ever-”    

Max’s foot caught on a tree root and he tripped to his knees.

“Oh my gosh Max! Are you ok?” David asked as he kneeled down next to the small boy and stopping his rambling.    

Max looked up, about to retort in a raspy voice that David should go and kindly fuck himself somewhere but he ended up gagging and lurching his body forward in a hunch.

“Oh, shoot! Max!” David cried out as Max continued to gag and heave out harsh breathes. 

Max slapped his hands away as he tried to comfort him, so he just kneeled there unsure of what to do. David’s hope that maybe Max was just a bit nauseous disappeared as he noticed the  fresh tear tracks on the boy’s face. With a downturned lips and sad green eyes he took in the boy’s appearance, his black curly hair was slightly greasy and more unkempt than usual, there were more prominent bags under Max’s eyes. The hoodie was sloppily pulled on, his shoes were untied and the boy’s usual tan complexion was now a more paler version of his tan. Max’s was sick, and he didn’t even notice it.

‘Something did go wrong yesterday…’    

Max let out a garbled amount of raspy words with a pained expression, David winced at this and let Max heave. A retching sound rang loudly in the small area that they were at and David watched in horror as Max vomited a mix of dirt, blood and earthworms, that were still alive and wriggling on the ground in front of him. Max clutched the grass with one hand and grabbed his throat in another as he screamed hoarsely at the sight, he sobbed and retched again. To David’s surprise, it wasn’t more worms but this time it was a paint brush, and USB chip. David looked on in horror as Max just simply wiped his mouth and rubbed at his throat. He might have stared longer than what he would have like before Max brought him back to reality.

“David.”    

Max’s voice was almost gone and his throat was closing with the fresh sobs the boy began to make. David immediately got up, grabbed the boy and hauled ass back to camp, he called Gwen and told her to round up the kids, determined to figure out why Max was vomiting out objects.

\-------------------------------------------   

The campers nervously looked at one another, questioning why they were taken back to the camp in such a hurry by a scared Gwen who told them that it was an emergency. As they were getting settled in the mess hall, David bursted in through the doors, holding a limp Max in his arms, face tucked into his neck, shivers wracking his body.

“Ok,” David said in the most stern and serious way he had ever said that word. “Which one of you did this. I know Max wouldn’t have made himself do this on purpose, why is Max vomiting objects that should have no right to be in his body?”    

The campers looked guiltily at each other before Neil spoke up.

“Well I challenged Harrison that his magic wasn’t real, and he made a spell to prove me wrong, it was suppose to hit me, but it hit Max instead…”    

Harrison looked guilty.

“It wasn’t supposed to last this long, only for a day or two at most, it should be gone by now!”

“Harrison.”    

Harrison looked at David and Gwen with fear on his face. “I’m not mad kiddo, it was accidental, I understand, but can you fix it?”    

Harrison shook his head.

“Can’t, it should be going away soon, he needs a lot of rest and to drink fluids, other than that you have to wait for it to leave his system, it’s like a cold.”    

David nodded and told the campers that they were excused for the rest of the day. He carried the now sleepy Max towards the cabin. He opened the door and walk to his bed to set him down carefully on the mattress. He grabbed a glass and filled it with water and grabbed a bucket and sleeping pills before heading over to Max and gently waking him up.

“Uh...David?” he whispered almost too quietly.

“Hey there bud, I got something to help wash your mouth out and to help you sleep ok?”    

He helped Max sit up and helped in rise his mouth and spit in the bucket and gave him the sleeping pills. He pushed Max back down and brushed his bangs away from his forehead.

“Goodnight Max.”    

The next few days after that were hectic, Neil and Nikki tried to sneak in multiple times to try and to see Max who was sleeping and drinking Gatorade most of the time or retching another dangerous item. David ushered them away promising them that they’d be allowed to see him when he was a bit better. The other campers spent time making him cards and gifts for his recovery. Soon Max was back to his regular self and the campers had gone back to their usual state of antics.

“Max?”

Max looked at Harrison with raised eyebrows.

“What Harrison?”

The magician looked nervous for a moment, wringing his hands together, his gold eyes sadly looking at Max.

“I’m sorry about the spell...It wasn’t meant for you, but I realize that I shouldn’t have done that, no matter how mad I am.”    

Max smiled at him.

“It’s cool man, besides if you  try that again you better watch your fucking back.”    

Harrison looked frightened. Max smiled darkly.


	5. Mud Slide

Chapter 5: Mud Slide    

Tanned and cut up bare feet stumbled through the pouring rain, slipping and sliding desperately against the dirt, hands scrabbling against the bark of any tree in arms length. Thunder struck through the sky, lighting up in the late afternoon and illuminating the small tan boy’s face who was wide eyed in terror. Max slipped again in his blind panic, his ankle cracked loudly against the ground. Max screamed hoarsely at the sharp strike of agony ripping through his leg. The ground rumbled again and Max looked up in fear, the mud moving forward just a bit, Max gasped desperately and tried to see through the harshly pouring rain. Max pulled himself up at another rumble and grabbed a nearby tree to support himself. He glanced down at his foot and winced at the odd angle that it was at, he tried to place his foot on the ground but a sharp pain surfaced every time he tried. The forest rumbled again and the sound of multiple rocks and trees fall had Max yelping in fear.

\------------------------------

“David you’re gonna get us all fucking killed!” Max screamed as he watched David leap over a couple rocks that were in the way of the hiking trail that they were on.    

“No I’m not Max and I think you know that!” David said excitedly and turning around to face the small ten year old. “You’re fucking phone said it was gonna rain, there's not a cloud in the sky and I’m pretty sure that’s a clear fucking sign.” Max gestured to the ground.

“Plus we are on nothing but dirt on a side of a mother fucking forest that stands beside a fucking mountain!” 

David frowned.

“It’ll be fine Max, besides Nikki seems to be enjoying today!”    

Max looked over to the green haired girl who was practically vibrating and drooling at the sight of trees and animals she could potentially grab or climb.

“It’s Nikki, she likes almost everything.”

“Shut up Max I’m sure David knows what he’s doing, besides if it starts raining we’ll just start heading back to the camp.” Gwen said not bothering to look up from her phone.    

Max scowled at the counselors in annoyance, he shoved his hands into his pockets and trudged along the path. Neil nudged him in the shoulder with his arm.

“What’s wrong with you? Your much bitchier than usual.”    

Max glared at him for a moment before sighing.

“I have a bad feeling is all, usually when I get those they turn out to be right.”    

Neil nodded and stared ahead, looking out for Nikki.

“If it makes you feel better, I have a bad feeling too.”

“You always have bad feelings.”

“That may be true but they are like 98% correct.”    

Max sighed again and the two fell into a comfortable silence. David rambled on about a certain plant ahead of them to the other campers and Gwen was just ignoring them all in favor of listening to her music. Nikki was bouncing around on the outside of the group, picking up rocks and throwing them into the trees and at squirrels that showed up. Squirrels around Camp Campbell seemed to hate humans so, whenever anyone had spotted them they ran or chucked rocks at them. Max blames the Quartermaster for that situation. The day progressed slowly, the sky gradually getting darker as they got farther and farther from the camp.

“David!” Max called out angrily as a raindrop annoyingly hit him on his head.

“Yes Max?”    

The boy pointed up at the sky.

“It’s raining.”

“No it’s no-” David began but then was cut off by a loud sharp crack of lightening. “Ok well it’s time to get back to camp, huh kiddos!”    

They walked back the way they came on the trail, not even five minutes later the skies opened up and harshly began to pour on them. Max groaned loudly, angry at the fact that his hoodie was now thoroughly soaked through, Neil whined about the acidic rainwater and how he wished he had brought his jacket. The other campers were mad as well yelling about how the counselors should have been more responsible about the weather and whining about their favorite things being wet. Nikki just laughed and splashed around in the mud beside Max and Neil. Max’s eyes narrowed as a few drops of mud landed on his hoodie, he knew that it’d wash out so he didn’t bother yelling about it. The sky rumbled threateningly and the camps, plus the counselors sped up a bit in vain to escape the rain. Nikki wandered over to the edge of the tree line where there was a large hill, the mud there was slippery and she was just enjoying making it slide down the hill.

“Nikki!” Neil shouted as she slipped a bit. “Come back here! It’s dangerous plus I’m worried about those rocks at the top of the cliff up above us, they really don’t look stable!”    

David looked up as he heard Neil’s shouting, and looked at the cliff that Neil was pointing at. The ground up there seemed to be really unstable, in a panic he told the kids to speed up to get them out of the danger zone.

‘Oh jeez, I guess Max was really right about this being dangerous… I need to be more responsible with these kids!’        

David nodded to himself and made himself a goal to be a better counselor. As he walked with the group he heard another bout of shouting from behind him, only it sounded frantic. He turned only to see in horror as Nikki slipped and fell down the hill. Only she didn’t fall, a tanned arm covered in a blue hoodie gripped  the back of her red overalls with lighting quick movements. Max grunted and pushed his heels into the dirt as he pulled Nikki back up right and onto the muddy path way, both falling backwards in the process.

“Jesus Christ Nikki! What did I tell you!” Neil cried out in his panic helping Max and Nikki up.

“Sorry! I was just coming back onto the path when it happened!”    

Max’s eyes widened at the statement and he quickly pushed at the two to stop talking and start jogging.

“David you piece of shit!” He yelled angrily and in a panic. “The grounds breaking and you didn’t even see it!”

David’s eyes widened at the shout and he began to yell at the campers to speed up. He looked at Gwen who looked at him in panic.

“Shit David!” She cried out, a bit of hysterics in her voice.

“ I don’t know what to do in this situation!”

“Just stay calm Gwen, we’ll be fine! Just make sure that the campers or going fast ok?”    

She nodded and ran to the front of the group.

“It’s time to move our asses unless you wanna die!”    

The ground began to shake and it tossed the group of humans around, making them slip and panic in the rain. Through all of the commotion, David heard a loud blood curdling scream that made him stop momentarily and whip around to the Max Nikki and Neil who were trying to outrun the cascade of mud that came from the top of the cliff. It was getting closer and was faster than they were. Max turned to see the mud and made a last minute decision, he grabbed Nikki and with all of his strength, threw the light girl and few paces ahead with his high running adrenaline. Nikki shrieked in surprise.

“MAX?!” Neil screamed in confusion, winded from the desperate run as Max grabbed him as well.

“Listen Neil, you two are like the only family I have in this shit world!” Max said breathing heavily. “And I’m not gonna see you guys die before I do!”    

The rumbling got louder and the mud got closer, with a split second he threw Neil ahead a few paces as well, watching him tumble in the mud before screaming in horror.

“MAX!” Neil shrieked.    

It was all the warning he got before the mud and sharp rocks hit him on his left side with a harsh and unsurprising force He was thrown off his feet, one shoe slipping off in the process and tumbled with the rocks and mud down the large hill with a scream. He quickly closed his mouth when a few rocks and mud slipped into his mouth and curled his arms above his head as much as he could as the trees and scenery passed him and the earth by in a confused flash.

\-------------     

David looked in shock as he watched the camper sacrifice himself for his friends. His blue hoodie lost between the mud and rocks as they swept him and his screams out of view. Neil was screaming for Max, a pained and haunted look on his face while Nikki sobbed and screamed. The Mudslide stopped and the ground steadied itself. In numbness he picked up Nikki and grabbed Neil who squirmed and tried to fight his way out of David’s arms. But David held on tight and ran back to the rest of the campers who were still running.

“What about Max?!” Neil screamed as they disappeared from the sight.    

David continued running.

“We’ll come back I promise!” David screamed in the loud rain.    

As the ran up to the group Gwen knew something was wrong, The kids in David’s arms were screaming and crying and David himself looked as if he was about to break down in tears. It took a second for Gwen to notice that he was only carrying two kids and there was no third trailing behind him. He placed the kids on the ground who clung to each other, the other campers who had now stopped running as they were out of danger looked at them in confusion.

“David.” Gwen said softly.“Where’s Max?”    

The other campers and Gwen stared at David in confusion, wondering where the other camper was.

“Gwen call to police tell them to get the search and rescue.”   

Gwen stared at him in horror before calling the police and giving them the details in a rushed sobbing voice. After she was done she hung up and grabbed David by the arms.

“Just.What.Happened?!”    

David gulped he was in such distraught that he couldn’t physically speak only a choking noise came out of his mouth.

“Max told me, before he pushed me and Nikki away from the mud.” Neil started, voice heavy with emotion, “That me and Nikki were the only family he had and that he wasn’t going to loose us before he died.”    

Nikki began to cry again, clutching onto Neil sweater, who gripped her back just tight. David told Gwen to take the campers back and that he was going to stay here and wait for the police. The police showed up a few minutes after Gwen had gotten the kids back to camp. David hurriedly showed them the spot where Max disappeared. The search was in motion and David hoped they would find him soon. A few minutes later a searcher held up something.

“Is this the kids shoe?”   

  David’s eyes widened as he saw the tattered red and white sneakers stained in mud, he nodded.

“Good, if we can find another thing that belongs to him that might mean he’s not buried as deep as we thought.”    

David let his hopes up a bit.

“The grounds unstable we have to reach lower ground before we search completely, you got anything that we can use to search his sent before the rain completely washes it away?” The police leader in charge asked David.

“Um, they just found his shoe, it might work like that but if it doesn’t, we have his belongings at the camp.”        

David fought against the rush of tears to his eyes, blinking rapidly. “The shoe wasn’t covered completely in mud so it should still have his scent.” The searcher who found it stated.    

David panicked as he looked down the hill at the huge slide of mud. “Please let us find him.” He whispered, feeling a bit faint in his worry. This was just like Jasper all over again.

\-----------------------------------    

Max knew immediately when the mudslide stopped. The mud had reached into every opening in his clothing, caking the inside of his clothes in wet mud. He sat up and noticed that his shoes were no longer on his feet and that his socks were caked in mud, and full of holes, his feet had cuts. He pulled them off and threw them on the ground, his hoodie was getting heavy with the pouring rain and mud so he took that off too and let it slap wetly against the ground. Now, cladded in his no longer bright yellow shirt and muddy jeans he stood up and swayed, grabbing onto a tree near him. He raised his hand to the back of his head and pulled it away, he watched in dismay as it came away with mud and blood. He quickly grabbed his hoodie and ripped it, staring sadly at his now ruined hoodie.

‘It’s for the greater good.’ He thought.    

He remembered that he still had the one his parents had sent him and was suddenly grateful for the fact that they actually neglected him enough to buy copies of his own clothes because they didn’t realize that he already owned it. He wrapped the piece of cloth around his head and tied a tight knot, wincing in pain as he did so. Getting up he looked around him, judging where he was he headed off in the direction of the camp.

“Stupid David and his stupid activities!”

He said angrily as his bare feet stomped against the muddy ground.   

His feet stung in mild pain from the small cuts and his head throbbed a bit, despite this he continued forward, seeing a tree with a yellow dot on it. He was getting closer to the camp. The rain was ever president pouring itself on the small boy as if it hated him. The rain was at least washing the mud off a bit, his hair was caked with mud and twigs, the mud clung to his skin making him feel tight and uncomfortable in his own body. The ground rumbled and Max took off in a run, bare feet slapping in the ground arms outstretched in front of him to keep him from running into a tree.

“God dammit!”

He growled and continued forward.

\--------------------------------

“Hey!”

Someone yelled as David reached the bottom of the mudslide, it had taken them an hour to reach the end of the mud slide safely. David felt like he was going to throw up as he saw the searcher hold up a small blue hoodie that was ripped. He looked at the police officer and nodded.

“That’s Max’s.”

“Hey!”

The man called again, sniffer dog at ready.

“We got some socks and some blood!”    

David’s heart stuttered as the man said ‘blood’, Max is injured. He clamped a hand over his mouth. ‘This is your fault David, you didn’t listen, you never listen to him, and now he could be dead because of your stupid activity. You’re a fucking idiot David!’ He yelled at himself in his mind.    

He took ahold of one of the sniffer dogs and grabbed the shoe the one the first searcher found, holding it for the dog to sniff and took off in the direction it went in screaming Max’s name as his panic rose.

“MAX!”

‘Hold on kiddo, I’m coming!’

\-----------Right FUCKING now-------    

Max struggled to walk, but as the ground rumbled again he had no choice but to break out into a run. His foot ached in pain but eventually he made it to the end of the tree line and finally out of danger. He sighed in relief as he realized he had finally made it back to the camp, he limped towards the mess hall and slammed the door open. The campers, plus Gwen, screamed at the door slamming open, Max limped in and promptly fell over. The campers took in his ragged and tattered appearance, he was covered in scratches, had a makeshift bandage and his foot was twisted wrong, not only that, but he looked like he took a swim in a mud river, which was an understatement. Gwen stared at Max in surprise, the latter screamed in pain and hunched over his leg and and stared Gwen dead in the eye. “Are you just gonna fucking stare at me or are you gonna fucking call ambulance?!”

She dialed.

TO BE CONTIUNED.


	6. Muchausen Syndrome By Proxy

Chapter:6

Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy    

Max grew up in a home where his parents were never around, as a result, nannies and caregivers were hired to take care of the small and neglected child. More often than not, Max’s behavior would cause them to dissipate and leave early without pay, even to go so far as to outright not even take the money his parents handed them. Max wanted them to care, to come to his room and reprimand him upon his bad behavior, although he was very well aware of what he had done. But, no matter how hard he wished and stared at the wooden door that separated his room from the rest of the house, they did not show. They did not show up for dinner, breakfast, lunch, to his school plays, or when he wanted to go to the park, or to just be outside. His nannies were always busy ignoring him to do their own things, like watching his parents big flat screen TV in the living room, reading books or just playing on their phones. When he asked if they could go to the park they’d either stick him in his room or tell him to go somewhere else and not bother them.  He ended up spending most of his time inside. They were just as bad as his parents so he began to lash out, creating pranks and making sure that they couldn’t stay for the pay if they weren’t doing their jobs right.    

It all changed when “Nana” came. Nana was a tall white male with dark black hair that stuck out in about almost every direction, his real name was Alex. Max didn’t like him at first, asking annoying questions and trying to get him to break, however, Nana didn’t and had taken to the park when he asked, accompanied him on the way to school and attended his school plays. Max had finally began to hope that things were looking up. Nana was like a small patch of land during flood season, he was everything that Max’s parents were not. And Max was happy.    

Until Max had begun getting sick. It all started in the beginning of the school year of his fourth grade, during flu season, Max was the smartest kid in his grade. He got straight A’s without any effort and aced his tests without any flaws. His immune system was weak, the doctors said, because he stayed inside a lot, he was prone to infections. He had gotten the flu and had spent almost the whole day vomiting in the nurse's office before the school staff finally told him that his parents weren’t picking up. He gave them Nana’s number and he came to pick Max up, cooing and fussing over the smaller child with so much love and affection that Max soaked it up eagerly. Like a sponge in a bowl of water, he reveled in the attention his parents never bothered to do to him. He was the perfect victim for Nana. When Max’s fever refused to let up, Nana hurriedly took him to the hospital, claiming that Max could be very ill and without medical attention he would die. Max had gotten so scared that he allowed Nana to take him there, when they reached the doctor’s office, Max was tested for any type of sickness that would have made his original symptoms worse. The results were unclear, stating that Max was completely fine and was, and had been cured of the flu. In fact Max had been cleared of the flu a week before this new vomiting problem. Max began to get scared, crying to Nana that he was scared to die. Nana reassured him that he would be fine and whatever it was, it would be small and probably something that they can easily be rid of. The results we again unclear when they tried to test him again. There was little they could do for Max other than proscribe him painkillers to ease the pain that was in his stomach and send him back home with a promise to return if things got worse. Max’s stomach would churn violently and he would spew out whatever he ate, making him lose weight rapidly and make him too weak to stand up, walk or even sit up in his bed. Nana took care of Max during this sickness and nursed Max back to health. Max began to trust him more and more with each passing day. He no longer cared about his parents love and affection, because they weren’t there to cut the crusts off his sandwiches, Nana was, they weren’t there to comfort him when he vomited a bit of blood in the toilet and he had panicked, Nana was. Max was prescribed painkillers and was eventually diagnosed with a minor breathing problem which made his heart skip a couple of beats and lungs tighten in his chest, leaving breathless and exhausted after an attack. The doctors claimed it was because of something that Max had digested that caused his blood pressure to rise and fall randomly, which is very dangerous for a growing boy, however they could diagnose it properly, prescribing the boy an inhaler and an oxygen tank  to help him breathe on the worst of days. Max ended up skipping a lot of days from school, doing his homework and classroom in the clean air of his bedroom, oftentimes he would struggle with his work because the tube of his oxygen tank would get in the way and block his small arms from writing on the paper. When he was home, Nana would almost force him to wear the oxygen tank, claiming that Max would be able to breathe better with it than without it. Max had told him that he felt just fine without it claiming that he was getting better, Nana told him his sickness could get worse at anytime. That night, after dinner, Max spent the rest of his time throwing up what food he ate, sobbing and telling Nana that he would wear the oxygen mask if it would stop his vomiting. Nana told him that it was ok and helped him clean up, put his pajamas on and carried Max to his bed. Nana leaned over and switched on the oxygen tank, placing the mask over Max’s face and tucking him in. Max slept better believing that the oxygen tank was the only reason that he wasn’t vomiting. During the day, when Nana and Max were out and about, he made Max wear a portable oxygen mask.

“Just in case.” Nana reassured him. “That the pollen and dust won’t effect your breathing and cause you more harm.”    

Max believed him, scared that the vomiting and stomach pain would return if he tried to take it off without Nana’s permission.  People always gave the two of them sympathetic stares and talked to Nana about Max. Nana reveled in the fact that they were getting this much attention, to Max however, it looked like Nana was nervous, as if he disliked that people were bugging him about Max. Max brought this up to Nana when they had gotten home, asking if Nana would feel better if Max stayed home, as to not cause him to much attention. Nana got very offended and told Max that by going out with Nana, that he was strong and he was showing people that he was going to get over his sickness by fighting it and going outside, not to be ashamed that he was wearing a mask. That Max should be proud and happy that he was showing others that he wasn’t different, but that Max was a fighter. Max never brought it up again, believing that what he was doing was proving others wrong. He scored A’s the rest of the school year despite not being able to go to class, and survived each day with chewy vitamins and painkillers.    

School had finally ended for the year and summer was upon them, however, due to his “sickness” Max wasn’t able to go swimming, running, or hang out with anyone from his class because he didn’t get to know anyone throughout the year. Instead, for the first week of summer, he and Nana played games and read books. Nana made sure he stayed inside, claiming that the summer air was dangerous for someone as sick as him. Unfortunately, his parents disliked the amount of money they had to pay for both Max and Nana, so they signed Max up for a summer camp and made Nana go on a long term vacation. Max was devastated, he cried on Nana’s shoulder for hours, Nana holding him close and helping him prepare for his trip.

“You’ll be ok as long as you remember to take your meds and have your oxygen tank, carry your oxygen mask and inhaler with you at all times.”    

He packed Max’s meds with his clothes and wrote him a note to the owner and counselors of Camp Campbell stating Max’s condition and extra meds that Nana would mail over if Max ran out. Nana hesitated to send over his medical records, because if one were to look too deep they’d immediately notice that something was wrong. Hoping that the counselors were dull enough not to notice, he sent them. After looking at the brochure he noticed almost immediately that the camp was a scam created in order to gain money from idiotic parents who could care less for their kids. The kid however seemed only a fraction of sadness because, as he told his Nana, that his parents sent them there for two years in a row, this would be his third. He looked over Max as the young boy slept and frowned, the meds would only make Max a little sick, it would make Max experience hot and cold flashes but  would not cause him to vomit. Hatching a small plan in his head he turned and began to make plans on how to keep Max sick.    

The next day Nana saw Max off to the bus stop, staying besides the small ten year old in wait of the bus who was being driven by a man with a gruff voice, beard and only one hand. Nana grimaced and reminded Max one more time about his meds before saying their goodbyes. He watched in satisfaction as the bus departed, taking his child with them, he really hoped that the counselors were blow offs and didn’t care about Max just like his parents didn’t. If they were, than it would make his plan a lot easier to fulfill, after all he didn’t want to kill Max, he just wanted Max to be dependent on him until the day he dies, because if no one cared for Max than who will? Surely Nana was a better caregiver for Max, even if what he was doing would surely shorten the boys lifespan by a few years.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------    

David watched in excitement as the dull yellow bus drove slowly up the road, their first camper is on the bus and David wouldn’t deny that he was happy to see Max again for a third year. He practically raced to the bus as it stopped and stood in front of the bus doors and it opened. To his dismay, and horror, Max was disheveled and tired looking, a clear tube connected to his nostrils and wrapped delicately behind his ears reached down towards a small green satchel that held a small portable oxygen tank. Max seemed too skinny, his normal blue hoodie was hanging baggily upon his small frame, a large backpack was draped across his back. Despite the scary fact that Max was deeply sick and his parents still sent him to camp, he smiled and hugged Max.

“Welcome back to camp kiddo!”   

Max muttered something weakly and shoved David away with large effort, shaking slightly.

“Why the f-fuck would you be happy t-that I returned?” Max stuttered out shakily, glaring at David with his normal clinical demeanor.    

David smiled wider at the fact that even if Max was sick, he hadn’t changed a bit.

“Well, who wouldn’t be happy that their favorite camper returns!”    

Max glowered at him, seemingly lost of breath and dug his hands into the pockets of his hoodie as he got off the bus. After a second, Max took out a piece of paper and shoved in unceremoniously into David’s face statin in a tired and suddenly hoarse tone:

“Here.”    

David took the paper as he escorted Max to the campers sleeping tents, his eyes scanned the paper, his frown gathering as he read the list of symptoms that Max some how seemed to gather throughout the short time he was departed from Camp Campbell. Suspiciously he looked at the signature.

‘Sincerely-Nana.’    

As they reached Max’s normal tent, David spoke up.

“Max, not to be a noisy Nancy, but who is Nana? I think that something as important as this would be signed by your parents?”    

Max sighed and ducked into the tent, David following him and helping Max take off the large backpack.

“Nana is my caregiver, he’s like my parental guardian.”    

David looked over the large array of strict dieting systems for Max’s “health” and frowned.

“Ok…”    

He looked back up at Max.

“The note says that you have medications that you need to take daily, once in the morning and once in the afternoon and before bed.”    

Max took out the orange prescription bottles with a frown and handed them to David, stating which was which as he did so.

“Obecalp, is for my vomiting problems, and Cebocap is for my hot and cold flashes.”    

David took them with a small downward quirk of his mouth. He was sure he had heard about these types of drugs before but he couldn’t quite place his finger on it.

“Which ones do you need to take in the morning, after noon and night?”

“I have to take both for every meal.”    

David nodded. “Why do you need the oxygen mask and tank?”    

Max adjusted the oxygen tank next to his cot with a labored breathing, as if simply doing the action was exhausting.

“I have a small breathing problem, Nana said I need to wear them at all times or else I can get really sick from the outside air, I have an inhaler as well…”    

David nodded again and kneeled cautiously next to the normally angry kid who was now worn out and tired looking.

“Are you sure you need this? Most people with a breathing problem don’t have trouble breathing normal air. And you never were allergic to pollen or anything in the past years.”

“ _Yes_ I’m sure David.” Max growled staring at David as if the elder one was stupid. “Nana said not to take it off, the last time I did, I couldn’t stop vomiting my insides out for _hours_.”    

David gulped at the sheer hatred and vulnerability that crossed the boy’s face.

“Ok Max.” He placed a hand in the boy’s hair and ruffled it. “You look tired why don’t you get some sleep kiddo.”    

He left the tent to find Gwen.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------    

The rest of the campers showed up one by one, Max didn’t bother to make friends or talk to them, he had learned not to try after his first year there when he had made a couple of friends who did not show up the summer after that or this year in fact. Their parents were smart enough to realize just how shitty the cap really was and refused to send their kids back,leaving Max to be the only one whose parents didn’t care and sent him back year after year. Soon the campers realized that Max was “sick” and tired to be sympathetic towards his rude demeanor. Max, however, dislike this a great deal, claiming to them that he didn’t want their ‘fuckin’ pity’ and to take their ‘sympathetic and pathetic conscious elsewhere’. Eventually the campers backed off and began to treat him as a normal person. Throughout the camp activities, Max seemed to get relatively tired way more quicker than the others and seemed to be angry unless he took a small naps throughout the day. Soon, the last two campers arrived, one energetic girl and shy boy who Max took an immediate liking too, surprising not only Max but the counselors as well.    

It was well into the middle of the summer when Max received a package from his Nana. A box of hand made cookies made just for him, he sent a thank you letter back and wrote back about how things were at camp. Nikki and Neil were surprised that Max actually seemed content as he wrote back to his Nana. When they voiced their questions Max responded with.

“He took _way_ better care of me than my parents ever did.”    

Leaving the subject like that they left him alone. It wasn’t until a few weeks later Neil began to notice something strange. Almost every week Max was sent a box of cookies from his Nana, and every time he seemed to consume the pastries he seemed to violently get sick out of nowhere just around 3 hours later. He didn’t voice his concerns to anyone but Nikki who seemed to noticed it as well.

“Max smells sick, but he doesn’t smell like a regular ol’ sick.”    

Neil didn’t ask how she knew what regular sick people smelled like and just decided to let the comment pass by. Neil and Nikki planned a scheme to test out their ‘theory’, well Neil’s theory. Later that day, while Max was taking his normal afternoon nap, they stole a cookie and gave it to space kid. Neil winced at the thought of having to test on a human being, but since he couldn’t know what exactly was in the cookie, he couldn’t give it to the platypus in fear that it would die. He timed and watched space kid secretly in a duration of three hours, and just as he suspected, space kid was violently ill, spewing out what they that eaten for lunch in his space helmet that was still on him. Neil gagged at the sight and went to tell Nikki his findings.     They confronted Max later that day.

“I don’t understand….Nana could _never_ try to hurt me. He _loves_ me…”

“I don’t know Max, but _please_ let me dissect a cookie, I just want to know if this could be potentially dangerous.”Neil pleaded.    

Max hesitated, looking into his friend's eyes and seeing the panic that was nestled there.

“Ok.” Max stated in a small voice.

“Don’t eat anymore of those until further notice.”

Neil said as he grabbed the cookie box.    

Nikki comforted Max as he panic slightly.

“Should we tell David?” Nikki asked Neil.    

Neil looked up from his microscope and looked at Max.

“Not until we know for sure…”    

Max gulped and fiddled with the oxygen tube.    

The test came back with a positive of a foreign chemical that was known to cause vomiting and dizziness.        

Max began to wonder if his meds and oxygen tanks were a lie as well. The trio decided to tell the counselors of the situation. David seemed to be frightened by their discovery and Gwen actually seemed excited.

“It’s called ‘Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy’, it’s when a parental figure or guardian makes their child believe they are sick to demand attention and coddle the child so they won’t leave them.”    

Gwen then seemed to be scared.

“Actually most cases ends up with the child dying by the abusers hands. The medicine is almost always placebo’s or laced with poison.”    

Max gazed at his medicine bottles.

“Do you think I’m taking it? The poison?”    

David seemed to remember something as he stared at the names of the medicine.

“ _Now_ I remember why these bottles seemed so familiar. ‘Obecalp’ is ‘Placebo’ backwards, I was warned in school that if a doctor prescribed me a medication like this that it was dud and wasn’t real. It’s mostly filled with vitamins and other things that do not help or reduce conditions.”

“Cebocap, is another placebo, it’s basically a lactose dose.” Neil supplied unhelpfully.    

Max seemed vulnerable.

“I-I thought Nana was _different_ …”    

He glared hard at the bed spread he was sitting on in the counselor's office.

“I guess I was wrong…”    

David looked sympathetically at the boy whose whole world consisted to be made up of people who were out to swindle and trick him of everything he was.

"Max I'm _so_ sorry.It’s ok Max...We’ll get the police to investigate this, you’ll be fine, I’ll make sure of it.”    

Max looked up for the first time with hope in his teal eyes and gripped the oxygen tube. He tore the tube off and threw the tank onto the floor and took in a deep breath of the ‘outside oxygen’. When he didn’t die or choke he smiled at David with weary eyes.

“I hope so…”    

Alex was arrested on an attempt of murder on a minor, and his parents were arrested on child neglect. David soon took him in and all was right with world once more, and Max’s immune system was as strong as it would ever be.

All facts know from here: https://www.verywell.com/placebo-prescriptions-when-your-doctor-fakes-you-out-3969750


	7. Hallucinations,insomnia and stories oh my!

One shots of Max!

Chapter 7: Hallucinations,insomnia, and stories oh my! 

      It had been a very long time since Max had gone to sleep, but to be honest it wasn’t like he slept anyway. His night terrors would keep the boy up late at night, wheezing and paranoid in his shared tent while the others slept. However, despite his lack of sleep he had always managed to function around while his tired brain, today should be no different. The key word: should, but Max had been hit with a bout of restless nights due to his insomnia, and at the current moment the small ten year old was minutes away from screaming, hitting and crying all at once. He shuffled into the mess hall, body screaming exhaustion and annoyance and made his way towards the lunch line. He had stayed in his shared tent for most of the day, desperately trying to get some sleep, he had given up by the time lunch rolled by and decided to get out of the boring setting. He stood behind Nurf and gagged a bit as the sent of the older boy’s sweat wafted over to him, holding the front of his beloved hoodie up to his nose he angrily stayed behind the smelly child. The line moved and Max finally made it to the front, he grabbed the tray that was filled with whatever the Quartermaster believed would be a good meal for the kids. Max then made his way towards his table that was devoid of Neil and Nikki, figuring that they were on an adventure without him as he was the last in line he sat down and began to slowly eat his food.

      His eyes decided to start slipping shut and Max caught himself nodding off a few times, he shook it off and picked up the sandwich that was on the plate and took a bite. He couldn’t distinguish the flavor of it and decided that since the bread wasn’t too dry, that he’d continue to eat it. After a second bite, something felt a bit off and he looked down into the bite sized hole he made in his sandwich. The sandwich looked normal, pieces of the mysterious meat folded over each other neatly, cheese slightly melted, and the bread now slightly soaked with the mystery meat’s juice, he began to chew again and blinked. When his eyes refocused upon the bite sized hole he froze, the sandwich was covered in maggots. The little white worms made their way in and out of the holes in the bread and gaps between the cheese and meat. They slicked and squished their way around in the sandwich and seemed to grow in population. Max nervously swallowed and stared at the sandwich lips moving soundlessly. He blinked again and the sandwich was normal, he looked around the mess hall to see if anyone else had caught that, but nobody had and everything was relatively normal, Max shook his head and placed the sandwich down gingerly upon the tray and got up to throw away the rest of the food, chest heavy and filled with fear.  He made his way out of the mess hall and towards the lake, opting to sit there for a while and let the sounds of the softly lapping waves calm his nerves. His feet crunched against the foliage littering the dirt ridden trail, he could hear footsteps behind him, slower and heavier.

He growled in annoyance.

“David, I know that’s you so leave me the hell alone I’m so not in the mood.”    

      He turned to face the taller man, but his face switched from one of annoyance to one of confusion when there was seemingly no one behind him. He took a step backwards and decided that it was just his mind playing tricks on him. He turned and continued walking, the heavy footsteps followed after him. Max’s forehead began to bead with sweat as the footsteps still followed him slowly, a slow and heavy, slide and thump, as if whoever was walking was dragging their feet. When Max stopped, so did the footsteps, when he walked the footsteps followed. He turned around again cautiously, gulping in fear.

There was no one there.    

      Max frowned heavily and a heavy feeling of uneasiness fell upon him as he wringed his hands together. He bit the inside of his cheeks, the faintest taste of iron filling his mouth, he turned around and ran the rest of the way towards the lake, the ever present footsteps following at a much faster pace. He ran upon the wooden dock and to the edge, the footsteps that were after him had picked up it’s pace into one of a man running towards Max. Max turned with a strangled yell as he heard them run directly behind him. Once again the only thing there was the wind and an empty dock, Max breathed out a shaky breath of fear, the breath turning into a small strained whimper. He crumpled onto the dock, folding into himself, his left hand slammed against an old piece of wood that made up the dock. His right hand went up to his throat as he felt his airway beginning to close up with his fear. His eyes were wide as he stared dumbly at the floor of the dock, his mouth slack and open with his heaving gasps from his fear and his small run. He stayed like that for a while before the sound of the water and the cool summer breeze finally soothed his fragile nerves. He moved to sit near the edge of the platform and rested his now heavy head against the large dark wooden pole beside him. After a few moments of quiet breathing he yawned and peered into the oddly clear lake, he watched the small differently colored and sized fishes swim lazily around each other and into small plants that grew in the lake. He was content, watching the smaller creatures interact with the environment and tried to let the fish sooth him into a state of relaxation. The day passed by without Max’s notice until the sky seemed considerably darker, he got up and decided to head back to the camp before David could have his panties in a twist.

      As he walked back he began to become increasingly more paranoid since the trail began to remind him of the mystery man’s footsteps, he sped up a bit until the bright lights of the camp pushed away any paranoid thoughts. Relieved to once again be in the light Max made his way towards the tents when he saw the light of a nearby fire.  He walked towards it carefully and looked around for any sign of the other campers, when he didn’t see any of the others he concluded that the fire was a small campfire made for David and Gwen’s horrible scary story time. He looked back towards the tent and then back to the fire, he no longer felt tired so he walked towards the campfire. He saw that most of the campers had gone to bed and left only: Nikki, Neil, Space kid, Ered, and Nurf sitting on logs in front of the counselors.  

Max sat down on a log farthest from the others but close enough so that the others would know that he was there.

“-and the man crept forward, fear held tightly in his eyes and the keys to his house held loosely between his numbing finger. He went to the front door and opened it only to be greeted with-!”

David spoke theatrically.

“The surprise birthday party that he was meant to receive! OOOHHH~”

Max rolled his eyes at the man’s lame attempt to make a horror story, Gwen groaned from beside David.

“For now on just let me do the storytelling David…”    

David looked sad for a minute, his normally happy smile turning into a deep frown before it settled into a small smile.

“It that’s what you want Gwen!”    

She sighed again and stood up.

“Ok, I got this, so once in this zombie apocalyptic world there was this girl who fell in love with-”

“You’re seriously not copying ‘Warm bodies” are you?”  Max growled.    

Gwen looked offended for a minute and gripped her arm.

“She could have fallen in love with a cannibal, you don’t know!”

“Sure, I don’t Gwen just like how you based the last few ‘horror stories’ off of the ‘Titanic’ or ‘Phantom of the Opera’ face it, kids my age know more than you think Gwen.” Max replied back snidely.    

Gwen frowned and sat back down.

“Fine, if you think you can tell a better horror story than me then go right ahead smart-ass.”

“Language!” David said sounding deeply offended.

“Gwen there are children present!”

“No one gives a shit David.” Max shot back. “We all curse on a daily basis.”

“Yeah we do!” Nikki cried out, “I called Neil a bitch the other day!”

“Nikki that’s not something to be proud of.” Neil said pointedly.

“Neither is falling face first into mud but I wasn’t the one that did that yesterday was I?”

“Oh! Burn!” Nurf said laughing.    

Max stood up and walked in front of the campers, his teal eyes searching his peers faces.

“Fine, you all want to hear a real horror story?”    

They nodded.

“Good because what I have to say i going to be more realistic than the crap we get fed here.”    

Max sat down in front of him, his figure outlined with the fire that was roaring behind him.

“There was a boy, a small one about the age of 8 who lived in a run down house a few blocks away from his shitty school, his parents were rarely home because they spent their days going to clubs, getting drunk and doing drugs. That meant the boy was often left alone, he fed himself which was hard since there was barely any food, clothed himself and spent his days playing in the large empty house by himself, and when he was bored the boy occupied himself by cleaning the dirty house. His parents were mean brutes they’d often beat him and abuse him to the point where he could barely breath or move. Tonight had seemed no different, his parents were getting drugged up in the kitchen and the boy had hid himself away in the storage closet because it was the only room in the house that had a lock. The storage closet was more his room then anything else despite it being small, he could hide there when his parents were off their asses, the closet was his own little sanctuary. The boy was just drifting off to sleep when he heard his mother screaming from the kitchen, it wasn’t her normal ‘bad trip’ screaming, it was more intense, more real. The boy slowly made his way to the dimly lit kitchen clutching his beloved teddy bear tightly to himself and stepped into the room. The screaming had stopped as soon as he was a few feet from the kitchen, he walked around the room until his bare foot touched something warm and wet, looking down the boy saw the body of his mother. Her body had been brutally stabbed and mauled, in places some of her skin was only hanging onto the bone by a thread, shattered pieces of bone marrow was strewn about in the area where her neck would be. The little boy continued to look at his mother, not completely understanding what was wrong, her eyes were open, that meant she was awake right? He looked at the blood and concluded that all she needed was some bandages to stop the bleeding, he had learned from a teacher that bandages could stop any type of bleeding.”    

At this point, the story had taken a frightening turn to the campers and the counselors who watched Max animate the story a bit with his hands and eyes that held a faraway gaze as if he was lost in his own storytelling.

“He got up and went to the bathroom with his beloved teddy and grabbed a large box of bandages he knew his parents kept around for their many drug induced cuts. He brought it back to his mother and carefully bandaged her up piece by piece. Sadly, after a few days of waiting beside his mother, she did not wake and the blood upon the floor had become flaky and stained the tiles beneath her and the boy. The boy’s father did not return so the boy was left kneeling besides his dead mom. A few more days past with the boy only getting up to use the bathroom and eat before he started to notice changes with his mother. Her skin was no longer a healthy shade of brown, but instead had become greasy and sunken in, little white spots appeared on her skin and moved around under her skin, a horrid stench rose from her body, but the boy did not mind, he sat by his mother and watched as she became devoured by the white spots that were soon to be discovered were maggots that had begun eating his mother's rotten flesh. There were knocks on the front door, The boy got up, covered in his mother’s dried blood and teddy bear and opened the door. There were police officers, the boy had no idea what they were doing there and when he was questioned about his parents he simply stated that his mother was sleeping and that his father had left with a stack of cash in the middle of the night without saying a word. He was told to sit in the cop car while his mother was placed into an ambulance in a large black bag. His father was a murder, his mother was dead and all the little boy had left in this cruel world was his small teddy bear. He was in shock, no he wasn’t stupid, he had figured out just a few days after his mother had died, that she was dead, he had figured out what happened. But he was scared, scared his father would come back, so he bandaged his mother together in hopes that somehow she’d magically return to the whole person she had once been, he didn’t care if she hit or yelled at him, if she stabbed him in his hands with a knife or threaten to kill him when he stepped into the room. He didn’t care if only he could hear him mom tell him to go kill himself just one last time. He would have done anything thing to get her back because he loved her with all of his heart, as well as his father. The scary thing wasn’t the fact that he had witnessed his mother’s death or that he had sat beside her deceased body for a whole month. It was the fact that he’d do anything in the world to bring back the two most shittiest people in existence because he loved them.”    

There was a glint in Max’s eyes as he said this, the boy stood up and dusted himself off.

“The.End”    

Max had became exhausted so he went to the tents leaving behind the bewildered campers and counselors.    

TO BE CONTIUNED

SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT!


	8. Cultist of obsession

    Chapter 8: Cultist of obsession

The water was cold, it surrounded him with icy grip, quickly climbing its way into his clothes and onto his skin as the boy was submerged within the lake. His raven hair spiraled around his face eyes wide and frozen in shock staring up at the surface with a terrifying gaze, tan hands spreading in the water to push himself deeper into the lake and under the wooden dock, desperate to get away from whatever had been chasing him. The water around him was dark and inky, the boy pushed himself up for air, gasping as quietly as he could, the night was dark, the stars had vanished a while ago leaving the moon to bear witness to the scene below. The little boy almost slammed into the large wooden support of the dock in his desperation, he clung onto the wood, keeping himself under the dock as heavy footsteps creaked on it.

“Maaaax~” A light voice called out in a condescending tone.    

The footsteps reached the end of the dock and Max clamp a small hand against his mouth as the figure walked around the dock. He ducked back under the water as the man made his way towards Max’s hiding spot, Max pushed himself down by pushing his hands along the wood of the dock, holding his breath. The muffled vibrations of the man’s footsteps traveled through the wood Max was holding onto so tightly, Max shut his eyes tight as it stopped, he knew the man was looking down into the inky water, he prayed that the dark water would hide him. Max opened his eyes blearily, a few small bubbles escaped his lips as the man walked away, he was running out of oxygen, the cold water seemed to lull him into an almost tranquil state. Soon the man was gone, and Max waited a few more seconds before bursting to the surface and gasping quietly for air. He pushed his wet hair away from his face and looked towards the shore shivering. He swam as quietly as he could towards it, the water sloshing around him as sputtered and struggled to move his lethargic limbs. Tan hands gripped and slipped their way onto the dark rotted wood of the dock, Max quietly gasped for air, his small lungs struggling to take in air and the urge to cough. His hair flopped in disarray and wetly slapped against his face and over his eyes. His clothes weighed him down, making his skinny and light body unusually heavy. He crawled forward onto the sand and struggled to stand. Once he did so, on his hands and knees, he looked around in the darkness of the night and rested his gaze onto the nearly deserted camp site. Once he saw that his attacker wasn’t hiding nearby or was standing anywhere nearby he crouched/ran towards the thick forest that surround Camp Campbell. It wasn’t a smart decision, but to Max it had more pros than cons The ten year old made it past the tree line and turned to sit behind a large tree trunk and bush that would shield the view of the small boy.    

He shuddered and began to take off his shoes and socks, he was soaking wet and with his wet shoes, he wouldn’t be able to walk or run through the forest without making a sound. He was well aware that even without shoes he would still make noise, he figured that he would make less noise without it. He rolled up the bottom of his jeans so that they’d float just above his ankles, and stuffed his socks into his shoes and shoved them under the bushes next to him carefully. He shivered again and quietly stood up and took off into a trot deeper into the woods, heading towards the main roads, where he would hopefully, get help. You see, just today, the neighboring and familiar cultist next door had just been let out of the hospital of sleepy peak and since the counselors hadn’t bothered, or remembered to take the cultist off of the payroll, Daniel had come back to Camp Campbell for revenge. As soon as the blonde haired man walked out of a taxi that had pulled up to the camp at breakfast, Max had once again confronted David upon why Daniel was back.

“Because he did well last time here at camp and just because I dislike him shouldn’t mean I should turn him away from a source of income in his life, Max.”

Max was outraged.

“But he’s a fucking cultist David! He tried to fucking kill us! I still have nightmares about it!”

David frowned.

“That is it Max! I know I can tolerate your cynical and irrational judgement towards others but Daniel is a person who is trying to survive in this society and you should treat him as such!”

He left Max standing there in frozen fear as Daniel’s icy blue eyes slid over towards him.    

Max silently cursed David at his idea of keeping Daniel around as he sluggishly ran through the low hanging branches and pushed away branches of bushes that threatened to stop him as they snagged against his clothes and cut into his skin. He suddenly stopped and looked around, the silence was almost overwhelming, his eyes threatened to fill with tears as the anxiety of the day finally came crashing against him. His breathing sped up and became the only sound besides the normal nature around him. He desperately covered his mouth with his small hands and strained his ears to listen for any sounds that would be abnormal. He didn’t hear anything and frantically began to make his way to where he hoped was the main road. He slammed against a solid figure and fell backwards against a tree trunk with a loud shriek.

“Now Max,” Daniel said kneeling to Max’s height. “David told me you were a slippery one and that you would try to escape but man I didn’t think you’d get this far!”    

Max scrambled against the tree bark and made to run but Daniel grabbed him by his arm and jerked him so that the boy would fall against his chest. He clamped a large hand over Max’s mouth to prevent the child from screaming.

“And just one mile away from the main roads! My aren’t you persistent.”

Tears began to slip out of Max’s eyes as he fell limp in Daniel’s arms, the fight in him vanishing as the boy gave up hope.

“Aw, don’t cry Max, I’m not going to kill you.” Daniel said as he stood up and manhandled the boy back towards the camp.

“In fact, I have a proposition that you might find interesting.”

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////    

David frowned as he checked his phone one last time, the light on his touch screen illuminated his face in the cramped hotel room that him, Gwen, and the rest of the campers shared. The campers took the two queen sized beds, boys on one, girls on the others while the counselors took the couch. They had to stay overnight because the bus had overheated, stranding them 125 miles from the campsite, David had to improvise and ended up having the kids stay with them until the bus was ready in the morning.

“David, I’m sure they’re alright.”

David jumped and hurriedly shut his phone off, looking at Gwen with a defeated expression.

“I know, I’m just worried, Max is terrified of Daniel, I mean what if one of them had done something to the other? I just want to call them to make sure that they’re ok, but it’s late, they might be sleeping. Max said he felt sick and that’s why he didn’t come on the field trip, what if Daniel doesn’t really know what to do? Max is complex Gwen, I was hesitant about leaving him behind in the first place.”

Gwen sighed angrily and rolled over in the shitty hotel pullout couch bed to face David.

“Just text Daniel, David, he’s a grown man, maybe he’s up, and I’m sure Max just didn’t want to go on the trip today.”

David nodded and picked up his phone again.

“You’re right Gwen I’m just over reacting, they’re fine. Besides we’ll be back in the morning.”

Gwen lazily punched David in the hip and stuffed her face into her pillow.

“That’s the spirit, now shut up and get some sleep.”

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////    

Max sat on a chair in the counselor's cabin, knees pulled up to his chest and eyes red from crying. The sound of scraping brought the boy back to reality as Daniel brought a chair directly in front of the small ten year old. The blonde man sat down in the chair and rested his elbows against his knees.

“Now, Max.”

The boy flinched.

“I’m not here to hurt you, in fact I came back here for you only.”

The boy sniffled and looked up in angry confusion.

“Great, I’m not going to die, but I’m going to get molested by a pedophile cultist.”

Daniel laughed and sat up straighter.

“No, Max. I think you’ve got this all wrong.” He leaned against the back of the chair. “You see, when I first came to Camp Campbell, I thought that this would be an easy place filled with inadequate counselors and stupid campers that I can brainwash into killing themselves.”

Max shrunk into himself as Daniel continued his monologue.

“But then you were introduced, I believed that you were a small nihilistic nuisance that could easily be rid of. But you saw through my facade with such as if you were looking through a clear plastic wrap! I was impressed, and your way of thwarting my plans were brilliant! You’re so smart and capable of doing so much for someone your age, that I am so happy that I didn’t kill you. You have show signs of becoming a sociopath and I am interested.”

Max wiped his eyes and glared at Daniel as if he were crazy.

“Thanks I raised me, myself.”

Daniel barked out a laugh and leaned forward with his arms out on either side of him.

“And your snide remarks! You really are the prize of your generation.”

Max balled up his hands and narrowed his glare.

“If you’re not going to kill me, why the hell are you complimenting me?”

Daniel smiled.

“Zeemug chose you, Max. You are Zeemug! I see in you, the dark lord himself, and I am asking you to let me follow you!”

“No.”

Daniel’s smile fell.

“I don’t understand…”

Max stood up and glared harder at Daniel and pointing a finger at the man.

“You just don’t get it do you?! You’re some sick fuck who believes that this “Zeemug” character is real! Face it Daniel he’s. Not. REAL!”

Daniel stood up, looming over the small child menacingly.

“Yes.He.Is! And you’re too young to understand this Max but the great stories of my ancestors and my cult have prophesied this meeting between me and you! They prophesied that a child with dark fair skin and a name of Max, will be the child of the god that has created our religion. We have been waiting for you Max! And I am honored to be in your presence, however I will not tolerate that you will not follow what the prophecy says!”

Max screamed as Daniel picked him up roughly, he punched and fought as hard as he could, but it was to no avail.

“You will see how great it is to be looked after when the ritual is over.” ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////    

David awoke the campers, plus Gwen, early the next morning since they still had over 2 hours to head back to the camp. He herded them onto the bus as the sky was finally lighting up with the first rays of sunlight and checked his phone.

‘Huh, still no text? Probably crappy service. Yes, that’s it.’    

With the thought comforting his panicking mind, he began to drive them back to camp. /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

“Open wide!” Daniel said as he pushed a cup filled with a rose colored drink against Max’s mouth. Max pushed his head away from his tied up position in the tub. The bright blue colored water that was slightly glowing was Max’s last worry at the moment, his clothes were once again getting soaked and he was constantly being pushed under the water for various amounts of seconds to be “baptized” for Zeemug. The candles around them flickered threateningly.

“Come on I promise it’s not poisoned.”    

Max grunted and threw his head back and away from the cup. Daniel growled and took away his hand that was supporting Max from falling into the water, to grip the boy’s jaw, forcing it open. He hastily poured in the sweet smelling drink and threw the cup behind him to cover Max’s mouth and nose with his now free hand.

“Drink. It.”    

The drink had a foul taste to it, like iron and Max struggled against gagging as he couldn’t spit it out. He could breathe either as the drink clogged his airways as well as Daniel’s hand clogging his nose, making his fingers clench against his bounds in an attempt to struggle against it.

“Come on Max, it’s not bad I promise!”    

As he was running out of oxygen Max involuntarily swallowed without thinking. Daniel removed his hand and Max cried out in a hoarse voice, coughing and crying against Daniel’s arms.

“See, if you didn’t struggle, then I wouldn’t have to force my hand. Okay, buddy?”    

Max nodded weakly, lungs gasping with a wet voice choked with sobs, Daniel rubbed his small back.

“Shh. It’s ok, it’s over.”    

Daniel pulled the plug from the drain and grabbed a towel from the counter and a pair of Max’s pajamas. Max continued to cry hoarsely as Daniel undid his bounds and let Max towel himself of and get into his pajamas. He then picked the now exhausted boy up and laid him on his bed.

“I don’t trust you to sleep in your tent for tonight so you will sleep here under my watch. Goodnight Max.”    

Max cried himself to sleep.

To be continued........

I know, Ain’t I a stinker? Leaving y'all with cliffhangers?


	9. Mud slide 2

       The trip to the hospital had been a long grueling trip that consisted of Max angrily swearing at a clearly upset David who was sobbing and begging for the boys forgiveness.

“Oh. My. God. David! I already told you I don’t care, it was an accident, I’ve gotten worse things before now shut up the fucking ambulance man is trying to tell you something!”    

       David, who was still sobbing with red rimmed eyes looked up at the paramedic who was looking worriedly between the boy and David.

“Um… All I wanted to say was that the boys condition has been stabilized and that he will be drifting off soon due to the morphine we had just given him for his leg. We should be nearing the hospital very soon.”    

       David grabbed Max’s hand and squeezed it lightly before his sobs finally subsided, green eyes looked into tired teal ones.

“Max...I’m so sorry, I-I should have listened to you, and paid more attention to the weather...It’s just that I know that you hate being cooped up in one place so I thought it was a good idea to take you guys somewhere new for a change...I shouldn’t have tried, I’m so sorry.”    

       Max turned his head away from the older man and just stared at the metal walls out the ambulance for a long, hard, minute. David leaned forward and placed his head upon Max’s hand, both hands gripping the smaller one like a lifeline.

“I’m.So.So.Sorry…”    

       Max’s face hardened for a moment before he turned back to David, motions slow and lethargic as the medicine began to take over.

“You’re an idiot.”    

       David looked up, shock on his face as he stared at the dark skinned boy whose tears, that he had been holding back, finally spilled out.

“How many times have I told you that I don’t _care_ about that! I’ve been through **worse** David! I don’t _care_ that I was almost killed, I _care_ about the fact that you ACTUALLY _CARED_!”    

       A sob was wrenched out of the kid as he gripped back at David’s hands.

“You fucking _cared_ that I was gone. I didn’t actually think you cared, I expected to just be left there! But **no**! You just had to follow me, find me, or at least try to, but not _because_ it was your fucking job.”    

      Max fisted the covers of the stretcher, the  covers now stained and dusted with wet and dry mud.

“Fuck this, fuck you, fuck that fucking camp that parents send their shitty kids to because they themselves are shit at parenting and don’t want to bother taking care of a fucking child that used to fucking love them. And my life was full of completely shelled humans who are fuck-overs and you come along to ruin my shitty view on every-fucking-thing! You’re always fucking happy! But you’re not fucking happy and everything is constantly breaking your happy-go-lucky facade down and you keep coming back up to look for a different, good, way to solve the situation!”    

      Max turned to David with a hard,wet gaze, his voice raspy and faded.

“FUCK.YOU.”    

       David’s eyes began to well up with tears at Max’s confession, his back straightened up as if he was trying to give himself a backbone and prepare for something.

“But…”    

       Max’s voice cut him off before he could utter a single waving word.

“That’s what’s so good about you David…”    

       He placed a hand upon the spot just above David’s heart. The small dirt encrusted hand was warm and wet, soaking through David’s green shirt and warming his chest while the rest of him stayed chilled from the rain and wind.

“So, just because you made a mistake, you can be like me, and lay down and just take what the world dishes out, you found a way to be better.”    

       His eyes found David’s again, full of a deep tiredness that seemed forever embedded in the small child.

“I will never be able to change David, my points of view will stay the same, in it’s negative pit but if I could just be a bit more like you… Then the world could be a better place. SO there is nothing to be sorry about. It was a mistake, an accident, you’ll overcome it, and so will I. So get it in your stupid brain that you are forgiven, for something that wasn’t your fault.”    

       Max’s eyes began to close and the boy tipped forward, a heavy feeling settling in his limbs and wounds as he face planted into David’s chest. David wrapped his arms around Max as the boy slowly went limp, finally succumbing to the alluring drug of sleep. David reached a hand up towards Max’s now messier than usual hair and pulled out some bits of broken sticks and leafs, he smiled at the semi-funny thought that Max’s hair was now, quite literally a bird’s nest. The slight pull of the ambulance’s driving pulled David from his deep thoughts and tight hold of the small child in his arms.   

They reached the hospital.

 

I'm sorry it's short I've just been really tired lately.


	10. Transgender Max

No one had known, the only person the Max knew had known was David. The overly bright counselor hadn’t even batted an eye when Max had fearfully came out and told him the he want to be a boy. Max’s parents had always made him suppress his feelings of being uncomfortable in his body. When he didn’t give up, they shunned him, Max hadn’t cared, they hadn’t been in his life long enough for them to even make an impression on his demeanor. Yet the very thought that his parents didn’t like their only child was enough to push him into telling everyone that “she” was actually a he by telling everyone that he was Max. Since he was ten he hadn’t yet started growing boobs or had gotten his period yet, but he was dreading the day when his chest would enlarge and the bleeding would start. He panicked and used his parents money to buy pills that would lower his estrogen levels and raise his testosterone levels. His parents never noticed the “small” fee that would disappear every two months and Max hoped that he had stopped the process before it even began.

But now that he was at camp, he had hide his “medication” and his “girly” clothing that he was forced to wear to camp and hastily switched on the bus ride there, thank god it was just him and the Quartermaster, who thankfully could give two shits about the kid all the way at the back of the bus struggling to get a shirt over his head. David had always seemed to have known Max he realized after he began giving him the privacy that he need. For example, when all the boys would change into their swimsuits for swimming, he would always tell Max to take the lone stall to change in, fighting of the other advances with a simple: “Medical reasons”. When asked about his “medical reasons” Max would shrug and say the it was old surgery scars that he didn’t want to share. Then there was the appearance of certain objects in his tent that he knew where from David. A soft blue bunny, a pair of black male skinny jeans, and a book for transitioning teens both male and female. The last one was a big give away but it still touched Max’s heart that David had been looking out for him while his parents couldn’t. Throughout the entire summer these things kept happening and Max kept taking his pills, David kept looking out for him. One night, a few days before the end of summer, and the kids would be going home, Max pulled David aside during a bonfire.

“David, why did you do this?”

David looked a bit surprised at the question, eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

“Well I made the bonfire as a farewell to all you good cam-”

“That’s not what I was aiming at.”

David looked even more confused.

“I don't understand what you’re trying to tell me Max.”  
Max stifled a sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration, of course David wasn’t a flippin’ mind reader, the dolt was an idiot, he couldn’t tell what he was trying to say.

“I meant stuff like, the bunny or letting me change separately instead of forcing me to do it in front of the others.”

“Oh.” David said softly. “That.”

“Yes. That.”

A breeze blew by and ruffled Davids hair as he stared at Max, his eyes seemed tired and Max swore that his expression grew more older by the moment.

“Max.” He started carefully, voice in a small whisper. “I know what it’s like to go through a change like that by yourself.”

He sat next to the boy and sighed, running a hand through his hair.

“You see, there once was a girl named Delilah, she was pretty, smart, and everything her parents wanted her to be. But she wasn’t to herself, see, she wanted to be a he. She didn’t like her voice, her walk, her hair, her chest… So one day she decided to man up and tell he her parents that She was a he, of course, them being parents of a religious sort, didn’t take the news to well and Delilah was kicked out. Delilah was all on her own, she decided to cut her hair, change her name and settled down in the only place he knew would accept him for who he was and not what he wasn’t.”

Max looked up at David.

“Did she change her name to ‘David’?”

David smiled at him.

“Don’t ever let anyone tell you that your are stupid, you’ve got a smart brain and a good heart, no matter what you do.”

Max leaned against the counselor, taking in the smell of fresh fruit that served as the counselor soap. It was such a fruity smell for a man.

Max smiled.  
Everything was going to be ok.


End file.
